Mesupron® (see structure below) is a new small molecule inhibitor, taken as a pill, that inhibits the uPA system. The results from a recent phase II clinical study suggest that the drug could be a safe and first-line treatment that extends progression-free survival for metastatic breast cancer patients, when combined with the chemotherapeutic drug Capecitabine. 
The study included 132 patients with metastatic breast cancer from 20 centers in five countries. In the trial, patients who took Mesupron combined with Capecitabine went without the return of disease for a median 8.3 months after the therapy. Patients who only took Capecitabine had a progression-free survival of 7.5 months.
"The combination of oral agents was convenient for and well tolerated by the patients," says Goldstein. "Plans for future studies are ongoing."
The drug was developed by WILEX, a German pharmaceutical company that focuses on the development of small molecule inhibitors and other new targeted cancer drugs designed to give patients treatment options with fewer side effects than traditional chemotherapy. In the Phase II study, Goldstein and her collaborators also investigated the safety and efficacy of the drug, as well as the objective response rate the patient population who had no sign of disease after a specific amount of time.
Nine percent of the patients who received only Capecitabine had a complete objective response after 24 weeks. The objective response rate among the patients taking the combination therapy was nearly twice that, at 17 percent. The researchers also looked at different subgroups of participants to try to identify which patients might receive the most benefit from a combination therapy involving Mesupron. Among 109 Caucasian patients, the progression free survival was 7.5 months for patients who received Capecitabine alone, and 9.1 months for those who also received Mesupron.
The drug also showed a significant improvement for patients who had previously received treatment before their disease became metastatic. In the subgroup of patients (n=95) who received adjuvant chemotherapy following the primary diagnosis of breast cancer, progression free survival improved from 4.3 months in the Capecitabine alone group to 8.3 months in the Mesupron combination group.....
Ref : http://www.fccc.edu/information/news/press-releases/2012/2012-12-07-SABC-Goldstein-WILEX.html
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