Phenoxodiol Shows Promise in Overcoming Resistance to Platinum-Based Chemotherapy in Ovarian Cancer Patients

Strategic Insights -

Research conducted at Yale and the Royal Women's Hospital has discovered that phenoxodiol, an investigational anticancer drug, can restore platinum drug sensitivity to some patients who have become resistant to platinum-based chemotherapy. This breakthrough has significant implications for the treatment of ovarian cancer, which is the gynecologic cancer most likely to lead to death among women in the U.S. Studies have shown that approximately 10-15% of patients develop a high level of resistance to initial standard therapy, while the remaining 85-90% of initial responders eventually experience tumor regrowth due to the selection of chemo-resistant tumor cells. Phenoxodiol's potential to overcome this resistance makes it a crucial new tool in the fight against ovarian cancer.

Key Takeaways:

  • Phenoxodiol has been found to be active in restoring platinum drug sensitivity to patients who have shown prior resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy agents, with 74% of patients exhibiting a change in tumor growth.
  • The study aims to test the ability of phenoxodiol to reverse the resistance that develops in most ovarian cancers to standard chemotherapy, with promising results.
  • The U.S. Food and Drug Administration suggests that prolonged survival of patients is a more appropriate clinical endpoint than tumor response alone, making phenoxodiol's ability to effect patient survival and progression-free survival critical.
  • Ovarian cancer is the gynecologic cancer most likely to lead to death among women in the U.S., with approximately 10-15% of patients developing high resistance to initial standard therapy.
  • Phenoxodiol is an investigational drug that inhibits key pro-survival signaling pathways generated by the sphingomyelin pathway, leading to the prevention of production of key pro-survival proteins such as XIAP.
  • The Yale researchers will continue to test phenoxodiol's effectiveness in combination with carboplatin in patients with tumors refractory or resistant to platinum therapy in the OVATURE study.

Statistics:

  • 74% of patients with late-stage, platinum-resistant tumors who received the phenoxodiol and cisplatin combination showed evidence of a change in tumor growth by way of either tumor shrinkage or no increase in tumor size.
  • 10-15% of patients develop high resistance to initial standard therapy for ovarian cancer.
  • 85-90% of patients experience tumor regrowth due to chemo-resistant tumor cells.
  • 74,000 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the United States each year, making it the gynecologic cancer most likely to lead to death.

Sources:

  • Society of Gynecologic Oncology
  • Yale-New Haven Hospital
  • Royal Women's Hospital
  • Marshall Edwards, Inc.
  • U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
  • NewsRx.com