Aids Drug Viracept May Have Cancer-Fighting Potential
On the 31st August 2007, researchers in the US highlighted how a drug used in the treatment of aids has potential use in the fight against cancer. During their research, the group of scientists assessed the performance of these drugs - generically known as protease inhibitors -against a host of different cancer strands; among them - non-small cell lung cancer. The team behind the examination hail from the US National Cancer Institute, and their findings received publication in the Clinical Cancer Research journal.
The basis of the study was to establish whether these protease inhibitors were capable of slowing down the growth of cancer cells, both in mice and in the lab. Out of the six drugs put to the test, 50 per cent were shown to behave in this way. Leading the pack was nelfinavir, which is marketed as Viracept by the pharmaceutical firm Roche Holdings. Nelfinavir, said the researchers, proved effective in decelerating the growth of breast cancer cells in both drug-resistant and drug-sensitive forms.
Based on these results, the team has now commenced a preliminary clinical trial in which cancer patients will be tested with the drug.
Viracept itself was approved for use on the US Pharmaceutical market in 1997, but has come under the spotlight in more recent times. As reported in Pharmaceutical International, it was recently banned outright in Zambia, when samples were found to be contaminated. The ruling followed a mass recall in Europe, including the UK, where the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency highlighted the presence of a genotoxic body.
Rotinavir and saquinavir were the other protease inhibitors found in the analysis to inhibit the development of cancer cells. These two are marketed (by Abbott Laboratories) as Norvir and (by Roche) Invirase respectively.
Protease Inhibitors were used in this research due to their ability to affect a certain protein - an active participant in the growth of a whole host of cancers. In HIV patients, drugs of this kind can stop the virus spreading as quickly as it might otherwise do, consequently decreasing the chance of fully-fledged AIDs developing.
Source - Pharmaceutical International's US Reporter
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