Monotherapy phase I clinical trials of novel cytotoxics, targeted therapeutics, antimetastatic agents/angiogenesis inhibitors, and immunotherapeutics/vaccines

Numerous novel oncology agents are currently in phase I monotherapy trials. New Medicine's Oncology KnowledgeBASE (nm|OK) has updated the records of 92 such agents with preclinical or clinical results reported during the 2005 meetings of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the American Society of Hematology (ASH), and the AACR-NCI-EORTC meeting on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics.

The majority of these agents are novel targeted therapeutics addressing numerous first-in-human targets, in addition to well established markers such as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFr) and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFr) tyrosine kinases. Among these novel drugs are various multitargeted agents and those blocking such targets as Aurora, polo-like kinase I (plk1), transferrin, stromal-derived factor 1 (SDF-1), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), Met, nucleolin, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/ERK (MEK), telomerase, etc.

Depending on the results of these trials, many of these agents will proceed to phase II monotherapy clinical trials, as well as phase I trials in combinations with standard approved chemotherapeutics and/or other novel targeted drugs.

The list of agents in monotherapy phase I trials and their targets has been posted on the subscriber menu page of nm|OK. A detailed description of these agents has also been published in New Medicine's analytical newsletter, Future Oncology. Currently in its 10th year, Future Oncology has covered every aspect of the oncology field, and represents a powerful resource for professionals involved in the development or marketing of products in this sector.