Provectus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTC BB: PVCT), a development-stage oncology and dermatology biopharmaceutical company, announces the publication of an article, entitled “A novel treatment for metastatic melanoma with intralesional rose bengal and radiotherapy: a case series," authored by Dr. Matthew C. Foote, Dr. Bryan H. Burmeister, Janine Thomas, and Dr. B. Mark Smithers, in the current issue of the peer-reviewed journal, Melanoma Research (20(1):48-51, February 2010).
“Three patients with metastatic melanoma were treated with intralesional rose bengal followed by external beam radiotherapy. In all cases patients had an impressive response without significant increase in acute radiation reaction.”
The article is based on the authors’ observations while treating patients previously enrolled in the ongoing Phase 2 clinical trial of PV-10 for metastatic melanoma. PV-10 is Provectus’ formulation of rose bengal for intralesional (IL) injection into solid tumors. The authors stated, “Three patients with metastatic melanoma were treated with intralesional rose bengal followed by external beam radiotherapy. In all cases patients had an impressive response without significant increase in acute radiation reaction.” A copy of the article can be accessed at the following link: http://www.pvct.com/melanoma_update.html
The patients cited in the article were part of the Phase 2 study investigating the effectiveness of PV-10 for locoregional treatment of metastatic melanoma. The authors said, “All of the impressive responses occurred in previously injected lesions, non-injected lesions and other lesions that developed in the local area, which may have been exposed to rose bengal.”
The authors continued, “Although a range of [radiation] dose and fractionation schedules were used in these cases, the responses that were noted after radiotherapy, even for large volume disease, after IL rose bengal were significantly more than our experience would have predicted with all three of the patients treated having a complete in-field response.”