TEMPLE, Texas, March 2 (UPI) -- Canadian firm Protox Therapeutics has selected a Texas site to test its drug PORxin that targets recurrent prostate cancer.
The study will be the first clinical trial to be conducted at the Temple, Texas, site, Scott & White's Cancer Research Institute.
"This is a very important, and exciting, next step in the growth of the Cancer Research Institute here at Scott & White, and the development of this new class of drug therapy for cancer," said Art Frankel, physician/scientist and director of the institute.
"As we begin this Phase I clinical trial, we will be taking a giant step towards establishing Scott & White as a destination for medical research and development," he said.
The trial will enroll 36 patients with locally recurrent prostate cancer.
The treatment PORxin, or PRX302, which belongs to a drug class called targeted prodrugs, is injected into the prostate and becomes a cell killing toxin. The drug goes after prostate specific antigen PSA-producing cells, the cells that cause prostate cancer.
The disease affects more than 230,000 U.S. men each year, resulting in approximately 30,000 deaths, say statistics from the American Cancer Society.
