Bavituximab-Radiation Therapy Combo Helps Boost Efficacy of Lung Cancer Treatment
September 9, 2007 by Gloria Gamat
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Lung cancer is most often difficult to treat. Not only because it cannot be detected early enough but also because most lung cancer tumors aren’t that responsive to treatment.
Therefore scientists are always looking for the good if not the best treatment combination for lung cancer.
One example is the new mice study from UT Southwestern Medical Center:
Combining radiation therapy with a drug that helps destroy blood vessels nourishing malignant tumors has been shown in mice to be significantly more effective in treating lung cancer than either approach alone.
The said drug is bavituximab – a drug which Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc. has exclusively licensed from UT Southwestern.
Said Dr. Philip Thorpe, professor of pharmacology at UT Southwestern:
“This tells us that there is an urgent need to develop new treatment strategies. Vascular targeting agents such as bavituximab kill tumors without causing damage to surrounding healthy tissue. They cause fewer side effects than conventional cancer drugs that kill rapidly dividing normal cells along with the cancer cells.”
New clinical trials using a combination of bavituximab and radiation therapy is expected to start soon.
Find more details from UT Southwestern Medical Center.
