Promising Ph I/II NHL efficacy for pixantrone

Cell Therapeutics says that a review of early- and mid-stage data on its cancer drug candidate pixantrone suggests it is a promising treatment  for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

According to a summary of peer-reviewed publications in the May edition  of Future Oncology, there were five Phase I/II studies in which  pixantrone was added to standard chemotherapy regimens for treating  relapsed aggressive and indolent NHL. The drug produced encouragingly  high rates of overall response (58%-74%) including complete responses  (37%-57%). As previously reported, neutropenia was the dose limiting  toxicity when used as a single agent.

"In both preclinical and early clinical studies pixantrone exhibited  lower cardiac toxicity and better anti-tumor activity than that  observed with alternative anthracyclines, as it is devoid of the  putative cardiac toxicity generating chemical structure," said author  Barry Hancock, professor of medical oncology, Weston Park Hospital,  Sheffield, UK.