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La Unión Europea invertirá en un periodo de cuatro años 400 millones de euros en la investigación contra el cáncer. En concreto la inversión se va a centrar en ensayos con Yondelis alcaloide extraído de una ascidia marina y que en estudios anteriores ya han dado resultados prometedores. Los ensayos se llevaran a cabo en 24 centros repartidos en siete paises diferentes de toda la Unión Europea y será coordinado por la sociedad española Pharmamar. Mas información en http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/headlines/news/article_04_06_01_en.html
CANCER, RESEARCH
Looking to the ocean for new cancer treatments
Chemical agents extracted from a small marine animal may be effective against certain deadly tumours, say a team of European researchers who credit EU funding for putting their project on the fast track to new cancer treatments.
Chemical agents from a small marine animal offer new potential treatments for deadly cancers
© Source: Web source
Every year, around 3 900 people die in the European Union from sarcomas, a type of rare tumour which, from its Greek origins, means ‘fleshy growth’. Patients with this form of cancer can expect to live between six months and a year, depending on whether it has spread to other tissue in the body. Sarcomas do respond to chemotherapeutic drugs, which shrink the growth, but a definitive cure remains elusive.
But José Jimeno of Spain’s PharmaMar, the biotech company running the sarcoma project, says the solution could be around the corner thanks to natural resources found in the ocean, such as algae and seaweed. Hopes for a new therapy were raised by the discovery of Ecteinascidin-743 (ET-743), an alkaloid extracted from the Caribbean tunicate Ecteinascidia turbinata, a type of sea squirt that showed very promising results in early trials. The team’s findings will be published, under the title ‘New marine-derived anti-cancer therapeutics’, in the journal Marine Drugs later this year.
ET-743, or Yondelis, is a huge breakthrough for medical science, representing a new class of chemical agent which carries enormous potential for treating a range of cancers. In May 2001, it received from the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products ‘orphan status’ – a class of drugs targeting rare diseases – for the treatment of soft tissue sarcomas (STS).
Opening the door to co-operation
Sarcomas are cancers of the body’s connective tissues, including fat, blood vessels, nerves, bones, muscles, deep skin tissues and cartilage. They are divided into two main groups, bone tumours and soft tissue sarcomas. STS can only be diagnosed by a surgical biopsy – removing tissue from the tumour and analysing it under a microscope.
Today, they are treated surgically (removal) and by radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Depending on the size, location, extent and severity of the tumour, a combination of treatments may be used. Another option is biological therapy which stimulates the body’s own immune system to fight cancer, but this is still at clinical trial stage.
Thanks to EU support under the BIOMED 2 programme, PharmaMar is setting up trial stations for ET-734 in 24 EU centres across seven countries. Some 167 patients have already signed up to test Yondelis’ effectiveness against STS and – following positive results – against other tumour types, such as breast cancer, which kills a staggering 130 000 EU citizens a year. In addition, it is being tested in combination with other treatments.
EU support has meant a lot to PharmaMar and the project, Jimemo explains. “Not only is it an important source of finance, but also offers the possibility of teamwork with important [research] centres in other countries.” It has certainly been a decisive factor in bringing about the next round of clinical trials, he confirms. Companies with limited resources, such as small and medium-sized enterprises, receive a vital boost from EU funding, accelerating the whole drug development process and getting them to market – and thus to patients – much faster