Valentis' IL-2 gene medicine trial underway

Valentis has dosed the first four lung cancer patients with VLTS-587,its intravenously-administered human interleukin-2 gene medicine, in a Phase I clinical trial. The study is expected to run through 2001, with the aim of finding the maximum tolerated dose. VLTS-587 uses an optimized cationic lipid-based gene delivery system to express IL-2 locally in the lung, which preferentially localizes in pulmonary tumor lesions and enables tumor localization. Valentis' head of clinical oncology, Peter Sayre, says the drug "is designed to provide an opportunity to focus and amplify an immune response against both primary lung tumors, as well as cancers having pulmonary metastases, for which chemotherapy has limited effectiveness."