British Biotech Starts Ovarian Cancer Trial

British Biotech has started a further Phase III trial of its anticancerdrug marimastat, this time in patients with advanced ovarian cancer. The company has also started two cooperative studies of the matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor in breast cancer and small cell lung cancer.

Marimastat is now being tested in six tumor types. Meanwhile, a presentation at the European Cancer Conference ECCO 9 earlier this month has reported for the first time the feasibility of using marimastat in combination with cytotoxic chemotherapy. Adding marimastat to carboplatin did not appear to increase the incidence or severity of chemotherapy-related adverse events in a Phase Ib study.

Multiple Sclerosis Drug Meanwhile, BB reported that it has begun clinical trials of BB-3644, a combined matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor and suppressor of tumor necrosis factor production, in healthy volunteers. The orally-active drug is being developed for the treatment of multiple sclerosis.