|
Promising new substance for cancer therapy
In spite of the success that has been achieved in the fight against cancer, there are many types of tumor that still cannot be treated. Advanced kidney cancer is one of them. Bayer HealthCare (BHC) is researching a new active substance that may offer hope to doctors and patients alike. Sorafenib produced such encouraging results in the phase III study that the FDA, the drug regulatory agency in the USA, granted it fast-track status and approved it for the therapy of advanced kidney cancer in December 2005. It is hoped that sorafenib will be able to double the progression-free survival time of patients.
 |
| Scientist Dean Wilkie working with a laser microscope in the research labs at West Haven. |
Dr. Bernd Riedl is one of the scientists delighted by this news. The 43-year-old researcher played a decisive part in developing the new compound. Twelve months after the first substances active in vivo had been found, he and his team synthesized the development candidate in their laboratory.
"In a way, every new substance that we develop is like a child that we look after for a time and then pass on to capable hands. But we still follow its further development with great interest," says Riedl, who is now responsible for the chemistry work being done in the field of virology at the BHC Research Center in the Aprath district of Wuppertal.
He is proud that his child has turned out so well, because as a scientist in the pharmaceutical industry he is only too aware of how urgently doctors need drugs to treat cancer.
Sorafenib tackles the tumor in two different ways. Firstly, the compound inhibits the development of the blood vessels that feed the tumor. Riedl says: "It also stops the cancer cells reproducing uncontrollably by inhibiting Raf kinase. This is an enzyme that plays a vital role in controlling the growth and division processes in cells."
Bayer HealthCare is developing the new compound in collaboration with Onyx Pharmaceuticals, a company in the USA. Following the positive decision by the FDA in December 2005, the drug is now being marketed in the USA under the name Nexavar.
Bayer HealthCare has also submitted an application for marketing authorization to the European regulatory agency EMEA (European Medicines Evaluation Agency). This centralized procedure can be used to obtain regulatory approval for a drug in all the EU member states. If the authority gives the drug a positive evaluation, it could also be launched in the EU by the end of 2006. Applications for regulatory approval have also been submitted in Switzerland, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Mexico.
|
