GW's GG211: ECCO 8

- Glaxo Wellcome has decided to offer its developmental topoisomerase I inhibitor, GG211 (formerly G147211), up for license. At the ECCO 8 conference, a Phase I trial of the drug was presented in which 44 patients received a 72-hour infusion of the drug at doses of between 0.25mg/m2/day to 2.5mg/m2/day. This agent is said to be three times as potent as topotecan. Partial responses were observed in patients with ovarian, colon and breast cancers and hepatoma. The drug was well-tolerated, with hematological toxicity the dose-limiting factor, and on the basis of the results doses of 1.5mg/m2/day in untreated and 1.2mg/m2/ day in previously-treated patients have been selected for the Phase II program. One other toxicity observed was phlebitis.