Drug Watch a heads-up on pharmaceuticals in late-stage development

New drugs Product type/proposed indication FDA status/notes

abagovomab
Menarini Group
an anti-idiotype antibody, able to mimic a tumor antigen
highly expressed by ovarian cancer cells/used to prevent
or delay the tumor relapse in patients whose disease
responded to the first-line chemotherapy by activating
an immune response toward cancer cells
phase 2/3

karenitecin/BNP1350
BioNumerick Pharmecuticals
in the camptothecin class of chemotherapy drugs/
treatment of advanced ovarian cancer
phase 3

pazopanib (Votrient)
GlaxoSmithKline
multi-kinase angiogenesis inhibitor/maintenance therapy
for the treatment of ovarian cancer
phase 3
 references/sources:



◾ Abiraterone. Danila DC,
Morris MJ, de Bono JS, et al.
Phase II multicenter study of
abiraterone acetate plus prednisone
therapy in patients with
docetaxel-treated castrationresistant
prostate cancer. J Clin
Oncol. 2010;28(9):1496–1501.
◾ Karenitecin. Kavanagh JJ,
Sill MW, Ramirez PT, Warshal D,
Pearl ML, Morgan MA. Phase II
multicenter open-label study of
karenitecin in previously treated
epithelial ovarian and primary peritoneal
cancer: a Gynecologic Oncology
Group Study. Int J Gynecol
Cancer. 2008;18(3):460–464.
◾ Toremifene citrate. Smith
MR, Malkowicz SB, Chu F, et al.
Toremifene improves lipid
profiles in men receiving
androgen-deprivation therapy
for prostate cancer: interim
analysis of a multicenter
phase III study. J Clin Oncol.
2008;26(11):1824–1829.