Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center along with Danish researchers have announced the development of a novel, investigational anticancer drug (G202) that has been described as a molecular grenade that targets cancer cells. The drug is able to travel undetected by normal cells through the bloodstream until it is activated by a specific cancer proteins, then kaboom!
The drug, which is made from a weed, has been shown to destroy the cancer cells and their direct blood supplies while sparing healthy blood vessels and tissues.
In studies G202 is administered over three days. So far the drug reduced the size of human prostate tumors grown in mice (not humans) by an average of 50 percent within 30 days. To give you a comparative understanding, G202 outperformed docetaxel. G202 reduced seven of nine human prostate tumors in mice by more than 50 percent in 21 days. Docetaxel reduced one of eight human prostate tumors in mice by more than 50 percent in the same time period.
According to a report in the June 27 journal, Science Translational Medicine, the researchers also reported that G202 produced at least 50 percent regression in models of human breast cancer, kidney cancer and bladder cancer.
Because of these great mouse model results, researchers at Johns Hopkins have performed a phase I clinical trial to assess safety of the drug. So far they have treated 29 men with advanced cancer. In addition to Johns Hopkins, the University of Wisconsin and the University of Texas-San Antonio are participating in