October is breast cancer awareness month with many supporters touting pink ribbons, but in health stocks investors are watching the market closely for news of new drugs in various stages of testing. Recently, Cellceutix (OTCBB: CTIX) announced its pharmaceutical compound Kevetrin reduced tumor volume by 72%, giving new hope for breast cancer patients.
Cellceutix's Kevetrin compound has shown itself effective against drug-resistant cancer cells which the Company's Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Krishna Menon says were "very consistent" results compared with earlier tests conducted in July. In its late September announcement, the Beverly, Mass.-based Company said that laboratory tests on mice implanted with drug-resistant human cancer cells showed that tumor volume was reduced by 72% while growth was delayed by more than 52% when compared to those mice treated with paclitaxel (Taxol) or with cisplatin.
"These results are very consistent with the results in multi-drug resistant lung cancer cell lines that we announced in July," said Dr. Menon.
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women today with nearly one-in-three women diagnosed dying from the deadly disease, a fact that Dr. Menon and his colleagues are all too aware of. In a telephone interview late Monday afternoon, Cellceutix CFO Leo Ehrlich said the Company was "moving as quickly as is possible to begin FDA testing of its Kevetrin compound on humans," though he stopped short of giving details not previously announced.