CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Xanthus said Tuesday it has launched a Phase 2 trial of Symadex to treat metastatic breast cancer
The privately held oncology drug development firm said it has begun dosing patients in the Phase 2 study to test the drug in women with metastatic breast cancer following anthracycline and taxane failure.
The open-label, multi-center European study will enroll 49 patients with metastatic breast cancer who relapsed following prior treatment with an anthracycline and taxane regimen, Xanthus said.
"Even though significant advances have been made in the treatment of early breast cancer, treatment options for advanced breast cancer are still limited and metastatic breast cancer is almost always fatal," stated Robert Capizzi, Xanthus's senior vice president and chief medical officer.
He noted that previous studies suggest that Symadex's activity will not be affected by acquired resistance to commonly used first-line breast-cancer therapies and that the drug appears to cause fewer toxicities.
In 2006 Xanthus said it would initiate a second Phase 2 study of Symadex in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.
