Lung cancer drug showing promise

Source: journal of Cancer Research

Lung cancer is one of the deadliest cancers -small cell lung cancer in particular, the 5 year survival rate for which is 3%. Given that 20% of all lung cancer diagnoses are small cell carcinomas, treatment for this variant is essential.

Chemotherapy (cocktails of toxic chemicals) and radiation shrink small cell cancer but it returns quickly and becomes resistant to treatment.  A great combination.

The drug, you were wondering when I was getting to that I’m sure, is presently known as PD173074.  Yes “Tylenol” is a better name, but this is how drugs are commonly named during development and trials.  The clever names don’t arrive until later.  True story.

PD173074 works by blocking a growth hormone (FGF-2, if you really care) which is thought to be responsible for the immunity and rapid metastasis of small cell lung cancer.   But does it work?  Well, according to researchers in the UK it killed 50% of such tumors…in mice. So it’s still in the mouse stage, but if these results are capable of being reproduced, expect clinical trials soon.  In places other than the US, drugs don’t take nearly as long to go from R&D to market.  Another one to watch for.

~Posted by David Marc Schwadron, Esquire