Progen's cancer drug in trials

Brisbane based Progen Industries has moved into Phase II clinical trials for its small molecule cancer drug PI-88.

Four volunteer patients are currently participating in the trials at three Australian facilities; two at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, one at Newcastle's Mater Misericordiae Hospital and one patient who recently joined the trial at The Wesley Clinical Research Centre in Brisbane. Dr Robert Don, Progen's vice-president of R&D said that the three clinical trial facilities in Australia were now in operation.

To complete the trial, Progen anticipates enrolling 27 patients with multiple myeloma over the next 18 months.

"The Phase II trials will look at the way PI-88 drug affects the spread of cancer and inhibits the formation of blood vessels to feed tumours," Don said.

Normally, the cancer tricks the body into believing it is a new organ and stimulates the body to grow blood vessels surrounding it, to feed it. The drugs work by inhibiting new blood vessel growth so the cancer can no longer feed itself.

The volunteer patients involved have advanced cancer and had either not responded to other treatments, or their disease had returned.

In these trials they will be given PI-88 as an injection under the skin. Don said "PI-88 has the potential to treat blood cancers such as multiple myeloma and leukaemia," and recently it had been investigated as a treatment for other forms of cancer.

In the US, Progen is conducting early phase trials for PI-88 to treat skin cancers. "All our clinical trials are being done as part of an application to the Food and Drug Administration in the US," he said. It is preparation to find future partners in the US to commercialise the drug.

"We see the US as being the largest market for the drug," Don said.