by Daniel Dupuis
A number of immuno-therapies formulations for the treatment of cancer have been developed in a quest to extend patient survival rates, while also mitigating life-altering side effects and safety concerns. While no current or proposed drug can make this claim, a recently published study that was featured in the British Journal of Cancer provides data that indicates that the initial promise of immunotherapies has been realized.
Previous studies have demonstrated that Aneustat™ is not only effective as a stand-alone oncology therapy, but can also best be described as a “foundational” drug for combination cancer therapy. Aneustat™ has been paired in studies with a wide array of oncology medications that have been recognized as standard-of-care therapies and the results have consistently demonstrated that the addition of Aneustat™ offers dramatically improved outcomes and reduced drug resistance, thereby, expanding the therapeutic window.
A recently published study, Treatment with docetaxel in combination with Aneustat leads to potent inhibition of metastasis in a patient-derived xenograft model of advanced prostate cancer,Qu, et al.,1 11/doi:10,1038/bjc.2017,474, appears in the British Journal of Oncology and assesses the therapeutic advantages of combining Aneustat™ with docetaxel for advanced stage prostate cancer.
The study utilizes the patient-derived cancer tissue xenograft mode, which is the preferred methodology of the National Cancer Institute.
Docetaxel + Aneustat™ markedly inhibited C4-2 cell migration and LTL-313H lung micro-metastasis/kidney invasion. This drug combination downregulated expression of cancer driver genes such as FOzM1 (and FOXM1-target genes).
Aneustat™ has been clinically proven to boost the immune system to kill cancer cells through aptosis, in addition to regulating the metabolic system (tumor microenvironment) to stop proliferation while therapeutically affecting 1750 cancer related genes.
These results confirm earlier results by the same researcher that demonstrated that Aneustat™ alone was more effective than docetaxel for tumor shrinkage and inhibition of cancer cell growth. The combination of docetaxel and Aneustat™, however, was superior to either drug as a single agent.
The significance of this study is considerable in that it not only demonstrates improved efficacy, but offers a combination therapy that is also safer, while reducing the debilitating side effects common to oncology medications.
This study is a part of a series of studies that demonstrate that Anuestat™ has improved the overall efficacy of a wide array of medications known to be accepted as first-line therapies for prostate cancer, including enzalutamide, bicalutamide, abiraterone and apalutamide. Of even greater significance, however, is that Aneustat™ has been proven to be effective against tumors that have already been deemed to be resistant to these medications. This indicates that the various combination therapies will be viable for a longer period of time than any single agent.
More than 1 in 10 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point in their lives, and 1 in 41 will die of the disease; making it the second leading cause of cancer death in American men, according to the American Cancer Society. Additionally, a recent report states that while the incidence of most cancers is in decline, late stage prostate cancer has risen since 2015.
Aneustat™ in combination with docetaxel is a subject of continuing trials and it may be a potential candidate for Fast Track approval by the FDA. This conclusion is based on the FDA giving added weight to formulations that can effectively alter key biomarkers (a key component of the approval of Keytruda for new indications). Aneustat™ is non-toxic, with a negligible side effect profile (minor nausea) and no apparent safety risks. As a multi-target immuno-therapy it can prevent, rather than be a contributing factor, to the onset of co-morbidities.
This recent study confirms that Aneustat™ is a foundational drug that can be combined with numerous standard of care medications that can improve overall efficacy, while reducing side effects and safety concerns and mitigate the inherent drug resistance associated with current oncology medications.
Aneustat™ was developed by Omnitura that is scheduled for an IPO in 2019.