Drug in new class of targeted therapies shows early promise against blood-related cancers

A Phase I clinical trial of SNS-032, one of the first in a new class of drugs that inhibit cyclin-dependent kinases, has demonstrated the drug's safety and potential clinical action against advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

Cyclin-dependent kinases are enzymatic proteins that are integrally involved in cellular metabolism, renewal and signaling, and are thought to play key roles in the growth of cancers. The drug did not demonstrate any clinical effect against advanced multiple myeloma, although researchers hope it might still prove to have some benefit against this blood cancer as part of combination therapy. The paper is published on-line in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

"No drugs that target this cancer mechanism are on the market today," says study author David Siegel, Co-Chief, Multiple Myeloma, John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center, USA, adding: "I am hopeful that larger studies will show that this targeted therapy is useful against a number of advanced B cell malignancies."