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Go-ahead given for cancer drug

Rebecca Camber
1/12/2004

A NEW cancer drug developed and tested at the Christie Hospital has been given the green light.

Scientists at the hospital's Paterson Research Institute are celebrating after the drug, which attacks cancerous cells without damaging healthy tissue, was given a licence for commercial development.

Full trials will be completed next year, meaning the drug could be available to patients within five years. If the drug fulfils its early potential, it could save millions of lives.

Researchers at the research institute have spent years perfecting the drug, named RH1, which was first developed by Dr Malcolm Ranson.

Last September, the Christie Hospital held the first trials of the drug which, unlike chemo and radiotherapy, can distinguish between normal tissue and cancerous cells.

The drug is activated by an enzyme mass produced in cancerous tumours, which it uses to seek out cancer cells and destroy them.

The treatment will offer new hope for patients who have already failed to respond to conventional cancer treatments. In the past year, 12 patients have taken part in the trials sponsored by Cancer Research UK.

Safety

Researchers had planned to recruit another 28 patients for the trial over the next year, but the results have already proved so successful that a US biopharmaceutical company has now obtained permission to develop the drug further.

It has acquired a worldwide licence from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, the University of Salford and Cancer Research Technology to develop and commercialise the drug.

Dr Malcolm Ranson, who runs the clinical trial unit at the Christie Hospital, said: "The successful development of this drug is a true credit to the cancer research teams here in Manchester. It's a fantastic example of how local teams have taken research from the laboratory all the way to the patient. It's wonderful that local patients are the first to benefit from this development in cancer treatment.

"We've enrolled nearly a third of the desired number of patients for the study and are encouraged by results seen to date from both a safety and efficacy standpoint.

"Clinical trials are the vital step in developing better treatments for cancer patients. They improve the quality of care, which at the end of the day is what all cancer research work is about."


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Most recent 2 of 3 user comments

   The credit for RH1 must go to the inventor - Dr John Butler from the Kidscan Children's Cancer Research Centre at the University of Salford. RH1 is a unique substance. It is harmless until it comes in contact with the cancer where it is converted into a powerful drug. This idea and the drug came from Dr Butler. It is outrageous that he receives no credit for his work.
alan, didsbury
3/12/2004 at 08:52

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   I disagree with the last comment of the article, I believe that quality of care is not what cancer research should be all about, curing cancer is what it should be about, money is pumped into these charities because people think they will find a cure, not because they think they are going to have better quality of care while they are dying of the disease their money helped to try to find the cure of.
paul, stockport
1/12/2004 at 19:07

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