Stehlin Foundation
Paves Way for New Studies On Camptothecins
In March,
more than 200 research scientists exchanged ideas and findings
on camptothecins at a conference entitled: The Camptothecins:
Unfolding Their Anticancer Potential .The Stehlin Foundation
for Cancer Research organized the New York Academy of Sciences
conference held in Arlington, Va.
The conference
was a follow up to a 1996 New York Academy of Sciences conference
on camptothecin, also hosted by the Foundation. At that time,
research on camptothecin was in its preliminary stages. Since
then,11 patients with pancreatic cancer have survived at least
two years after being treated with 9-NitroCamptothecin at
the Foundation. Based on the promising results of the clinical
trials, SuperGen, Inc. signed an agreement with the Foundation
in 1997 to develop the drug, now called rubitecan, and extend
clinical trials. As more people benefit from treatment with
rubitecan, researchers are taking notice of its anticancer
potential. Twenty-seven researchers presented papers at the
conference, including the Foundation ’s Dr. John Stehlin,
Dr. Beppino Giovanella, Dr. Joachim Liehr and Dr. Zhisong
Cao.
"There
has been an explosion of camptothecin-related cancer research
with the development of derivatives and improvement of the
drug ’s efficacy," says Dr. Liehr, chief pharmacologist
for the Foundation. "We at the Foundation continue to
pioneer research and development of camptothecins so we can
translate the success to anticancer action in humans."
"The
conference gave Foundation researchers information about new
camptothecin drugs in development by other institutions and
laboratories," Dr.Liehr continues. "We discovered
what hurdles they are facing. The number and content of conference
presentations demonstrated that the development of camptothecin
drugs is moving forward quickly. The potential of camptothecins
holds further promise for human cancers. The drugs available
right now are only a partial fulfillment of this promise.
New derivatives of camptothecin and new ways to administer
them remain to be developed by the Foundation and others in
this area."
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