Cougar initiates Ph I/II CB7630 trial

California, USA-based Cougar Biotechnology says that the first patient was enrolled in a Phase I/II clinical trial of its drug candidate CB7630 (abiraterone acetate), an orally-active inhibitor of the steroidal enzyme 17alpha-hydroxylase/C17,20 lyase, for the treatment of advanced breast cancer. The study is being conducted at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, UK, and managed by the Drug Development Office of Cancer Research UK, which is funding the trial.

The Phase I/II clinical trial, which is open only to UK women, is an open-label, dose-escalating study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of CB7630 administered daily to patients with estrogen receptor positive or androgen receptor positive, metastatic breast cancer. Patients enrolled in the trial have disease that has progressed after at least two lines of hormonal therapies, such as aromatase inhibitors and tamoxifen.

Cougar licenses the compound from UK firm BTG, which stands to receive development milestones and royalties on all sales if CB7630 is successfully developed and approved for sale.