Sugen SU101 Registration Trials To Start In Summer

US firm Sugen has made the transition in the last year or so from aspeculative concern to a company which has three programs in mid- to late-stage clinical testing, and two more heading into the clinic in the next 12 months. The firm's strategy of developing inhibitors of signal transduction pathways seems to be paying off, particularly in oncology, but also in psoriasis and diabetes.

Sugen's lead compound SU101 has now been given to patients in four separate Phase I and Phase I/II clinical trials; the results will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting later this month. SU101 is an inhibitor of the tyrosine kinase pathway associated with platelet-derived growth factor.

Data from a Phase I study in end-stage malignant glioma patients who have failed prior treatment with BCNU (standard therapy) have suggested that SU101 has an unprecedented duration of response, said Stephen Evans-Freke, chief executive of Sugen. Some patients have had responses of up to 63 weeks, while the best that might be hoped for on standard second-line therapy (procarbazine) is around four to eight weeks. Tumor shrinkage has been observed, and there are early indications that SU101 may be stimulating programmed cell death (apoptosis) in the tumors. Results of a Phase I/II trial of SU101 in combination with BCNU will also appear shortly.