A new drug which activates a tumour suppressor gene is to be tested on patients with advanced head and neck cancer.

Montefiore Medical Center in New York City is to test the new drug advexin on two groups of patients. Advexin works on the p53 tumour suppressor gene, which is missing or mutated in many cancers.

In the trial, advexin will be added to standard chemotherapy in a group of patients with recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. This will be compared to chemotherapy alone, to see if advexin offers any advantage as an addition to the standard treatment.

In a second arm of the trial, patients with highly resistant squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck will be given either advexin or methotrexate, the standard treatment. Previous trials of advexin have shown it to be safe and well-tolerated. The new studies will show if it can actually beat this difficult cancer.

Source

Montefiore Medical Center 5th October 2002