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CritiTech announces
new clinical trial site in Wichita, Kansas
July 28, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LAWRENCE, Kansas – Today David Johnston, Ph.D., CEO
of CritiTech, Inc. announced that a second site has opened
at the Cancer Centers of Kansas in Wichita, Kansas for its
clinical trial of Nanotax® for the treatment of peritoneal
cancers. The Phase I clinical trial of Nanotax® began
enrolling patients in July, 2008 at the University of Kansas
Cancer Center and will now expand to include patients of the
Cancer Centers of Kansas in Wichita. “We are pleased
to have an additional site in central Kansas so that more
patients can be enrolled in the clinical trial without having
to travel to Kansas City while allowing us to accelerate the
development of this potentially important therapy” said
Johnston.
Paclitaxel is a commonly used chemotherapy drug
for ovarian cancer (one of several dangerous peritoneal cancers)
but its side effects can be severe for many patients. "Nanotax®
is a reformulation of paclitaxel that avoids the use of harsh
solvents and we believe this clinical trial will show that
Nanotax® has an improved side effect profile,” said
Johnston. The American Cancer Society estimates that approximately
15,000 deaths occur each year in the U.S. from ovarian cancer,
which causes more deaths than any other cancer of the reproductive
system. The National Cancer Institute estimates that the five-year
survival rate for all diagnosed patients with ovarian cancer
is only 46 percent. In part this is due to the relatively
advanced stage of the cancer at the time of diagnosis. Only
nineteen percent of ovarian cancer cases are detected early.
More information about this trial can be found at www.kansascancertreatment.org.
The underlying proprietary technology that
resulted in the development of the drug Nanotax® was invented
by researchers at the University of Kansas and licensed to
CritiTech, a Lawrence-based pharmaceutical firm. CritiTech
spent more than three years developing the drug product to
FDA standards and performed all of the required pre-clinical
testing necessary to gain approval to begin the clinical trial.
CritiTech filed an investigational new drug (IND) application
with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is the sponsor
of this clinical trial. Sam Campbell, Chairman of CritiTech
said, “Launching a new drug is an enormous undertaking
and would not have been possible without the cooperation and
effort of Dr. Roy Jensen director of the University of Kansas
Cancer Center, Drs Shaker Dakhil and Thomas Schulz of the
Cancer Centers of Kansas and the Kansas Bioscience Authority
(KBA) as well as all of CritiTech’s investors and staff
plus the sustained support of our collaborators.” Beckloff
Associates of Overland Park, Kansas guided CritiTech through
the regulatory process and MRI of Kansas City, Missouri and
Bayer Crop Science of Stillwell, Kansas performed many of
the pre-clinical studies submitted as part of the IND application.
Campbell has been raising equity capital for CritiTech for
several years, and noted that some of the capital has been
provided by MVA Capital Group out of Wichita and by Wichita
Technology Ventures. Support has also been provided by KBA
in researching critical aspects around areas of unmet clinical
need and market details.
This Phase I trial is
still accepting patients for enrollment. For more information
about enrolling in this clinical trial contact Marilyn Labinski
in the Clinical Trials Office of the University of Kansas
Cancer Center at 913-588-4254.
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