Alain Mita, M.D., a medical oncologist and assistant professor of medicine, notes that the drug GO-203-2c has been very promising in preclinical and animal studies before the launch of the Phase I study in humans.
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Contact: Elizabeth Allen, 210-450-2020

SAN ANTONIO (Feb.10, 2011) – The first patient in a multisite Phase I study was treated earlier this month with a new type of drug at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio’s Cancer Therapy & Research Center.

The drug, GO-203-2c, targets a specific protein called MUC1 that is over-expressed in more than half of the estimated 1.4 million cancers diagnosed each year in the U.S., including many breast, colon and lung cancers. At this time there are no approved drugs that target MUC1.

“People have been trying to target this protein for a long time, but they’ve been going about it the wrong way,” said Alain Mita, M.D., a medical oncologist and assistant professor of medicine at the CTRC. “This agent has been very promising in preclinical and animal studies, and it’s time to move to human trials.” The first patient received the initial treatment on Feb. 8, he said.

“The study points to the CTRC’s capacity to quickly and efficiently open drug development trials. Those are complex arrangements requiring multiple approvals,” said CTRC Director Ian M. Thompson Jr., M.D. “With our abilities, we can attract novel clinical trials with new agents and offer our patients access to the latest treatments available.”

The CTRC is one of two sites that have contracted with drug developer Genus Oncology LLC to run the studies. The other is Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare Hospital. Additional sites are currently under consideration.

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The Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is one of the elite academic cancer centers in the country to be named a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Cancer Center, and is one of only four in Texas. A leader in developing new drugs to treat cancer, the CTRC Institute for Drug Development (IDD) conducts one of the largest oncology Phase I clinical drug programs in the world, and participates in development of cancer drugs approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. For more information, visit www.ctrc.net.