Epothilone D "superior to many anticancer agents"

2 July 2001

Kosan Biosciences says it has demonstrated in preclinical trials thatepothilone D, a natural polyketide, is an efficacious anti-tumor agent with a broad therapeutic spectrum and wide safety margin in animal models, and also that it is superior to Bristol-Myers Squibb's Taxol (paclitaxel), among other cancer treatments.

Epothilones inhibit cancer cells via the same mechanism as paclitaxel, but are also effective against paclitaxel-resistant tumors. Epothilone D was also shown to be well-tolerated at therapeutically-effective doses, with no severe toxicity observed other than significant decreases in body weight. The drug also resulted in a lower frequency of multiple drug resistance in cells compared to paclitaxel. Kosan's chairman, Daniel Santi, said that the preclinical results were particularly encouraging and the company plans to initiate human trials later this year.

B-MS has initiated clinical evaluation of a different epothilone, aza-EpoB, and presented positive Phase I data at the recent American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in San Francisco, USA. However, it has been demonstrated that epothilone D also has a superior therapeutic index to epothilone B in animal models.

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