• 10/15/2004
  • Lab Business Week editors
  • Lab Business Week

Introgen Therapeutics, Inc., (INGN) announced that its Advexin program has been featured in Conquest magazine, the quarterly magazine published by The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

A feature article about M. D. Anderson’s pioneering research in gene therapy highlighted Introgen’s lead product Advexin. Also profiled were two lung cancer patients who had previously failed conventional therapies and then received combination treatments with Advexin therapy.

These two patients recently celebrated their 5-year anniversary. Previously, M. D. Anderson profiled another lung cancer patient from the same Advexin trial who also celebrated her 5-year survival after failing conventional treatments.

In addition to the Advexin program, the article also discussed two other cancer therapies from Introgen that are currently being tested at M. D. Anderson.

One is the phase I clinical development of INGN 401, Introgen’s systemically delivered nanoparticle tumor suppressor therapy. INGN 401 uses the FUS-1 gene, a gene frequently altered or missing in the development of many solid tumors. Encouraging preliminary data from this trial was discussed in Introgen’s recently held quarterly conference.

The phase I trial is treating patients with refractory stage IV non-small-cell lung cancer patients who typically have limited survival of approximately six months. Five of six patients are still alive 11-15 months after treatment with INGN 401.

Also mentioned in the article is Introgen’s clinical trial testing Advexin as an oral rinse, or mouthwash, for precancerous oral lesions. This trial uses “topical gene therapy to treat patients at risk of developing oral cancer.”

Introgen has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration Fast Track designation for Advexin therapy and Advexin has been designated as an Orphan Drug for the treatment of head and neck cancer under the Orphan Drug Act.

There are two phase III trials of Advexin therapy currently underway in cancer of the head and neck and phase II trials have been completed in lung and breast cancer.

Advexin supplies the tumor suppressor p53 protein in very high concentrations in cancer tissue to selectively kill cancer cells. p53 is a normal constituent of cells and is known as a tumor suppressor because it inhibits the growth of tumor cells.

One of the major roles of this protein is to eliminate cancerous cells by recognizing when the cell has been damaged by mutations and stopping cell growth to initiate repair. If the cell is damaged beyond repair, p53 initiates the cell death pathway to prevent the cell from growing out of control.

Introgen is a developer of biopharmaceutical products designed to induce therapeutic protein expression using non-integrating gene agents for the treatment of cancer and other diseases.