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AstraZeneca drug may help brain tumors - study
30 Mar 2009 21:20:37 GMT
 Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON, March 30 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca Plc's <AZN.L> cancer pill Recentin, developed to be a rival to the blockbuster Avastin, may help fight the deadly effects of brain tumors without shrinking them, researchers reported on Monday.

They said the drug, known generically as cediranib, helped stopped the fluid build-up caused by glioblastoma and helped mice with the brain tumors live longer.

Recentin, a pill, was developed to challenge Roche Holding AG <ROG.VX> and Genentech Inc's <DNA.N> injectable treatment Avastin. Both are targeted therapies designed to starve tumors by stopping them from building blood vessels, a process called anti-angiogenesis.

But a trial of Recentin against lung cancer was stopped last year after the drug failed to help enough patients.

Dr. Rakesh Jain and colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital tested the drug in mice and found it shrank blood vessels grown to nourish the tumor, and stopped them from leaking.

This reduced a type of swelling called edema and although the tumors continued to grow, the treated mice lived longer than untreated mice, Jain's team reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

"Our findings suggest that anti-angiogenesis therapy can increase patient survival even in the face of persistent tumor growth," Jain said in a statement.

But he said the drug still was far from perfect in fighting glioblastoma, the most aggressive type of brain tumor, which kills 10,000 people each year. "We urgently need to find better anti-tumor and anti-angiogenic agents," he said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering accelerated approval of Avastin, known generically as bevacizumab, for wider use against glioblastoma and has a hearing on the matter scheduled for Tuesday. (Reporting by Maggie Fox; Editing by Eric Walsh)


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