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MU College of Veterinary Medicine
to Study Efficacy of CritiTech, Inc., Drug
September 23, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Study Will Determine Efficacy of Nanotax®
in Canine Cancers
(LAWRENCE, KS) – Veterinary oncologists
at the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine
in Columbia, Missouri will begin the second stage of testing
of Nanotax®, a nanoparticulate form of paclitaxel. Paclitaxel
is a drug that is used often to treat cancer in humans, but
has not been available for veterinary use. Nanotax® was
developed, and is produced, by CritiTech, a Lawrence, Kansas
drug development company. Earlier this year, the MU veterinary
oncologists teamed up with CritiTech scientists to determine
the safety of the drug in dogs in a study funded by the Kansas
City Area Life Sciences Institute. The current study seeks
to determine if the drug will be effective against a broad
range of canine cancers. Funding for the study is provided
by a two-year grant from the Morris Animal Foundation. Dr.
Kim Selting, Assistant Teaching Professor of Oncology at the
MU College of Veterinary Medicine is the Principal Investigator
on the grant. Also participating in the study are Drs. Carolyn
Henry and Sandra Axiak of MU, and Dr. Charles Decedue, Senior
Research Fellow at CritiTech.
The study plans to look at the efficacy of
Nanotax® in dogs with spontaneously occurring cancer.
Data from the earlier safety study was used to establish a
starting dose for this study. The new study will consist of
a rapid dose escalation phase to determine the optimal dose
in dogs with cancer, followed by treatment at that optimal
dose in the remainder of the dogs recruited to the study.
The MU veterinarians will conduct the clinical part of the
study and assess disease progression in the dogs. The CritiTech
scientists will analyze blood samples to determine plasma
levels of the drug during the course of treatment.
According to Dr. Selting, “Cancer is
one of the most common causes of death in dogs.” Selting
also said that this study was important because, “Most
chemotherapy drugs available to people can be used in dogs,
except for taxanes.” CritiTech CEO, Dr. David Johnston
said, “CritiTech has created this specific formulation
of Nanotax® for veterinary applications to make taxanes
available for veterinary use.” CritiTech proposes to
name the new, canine-safe formulation CTI 52010.
Enrollment of dogs in the study could begin as soon as this
fall. It is anticipated that the study will take about 18
months to complete plus another 4-6 months to complete all
of the data analysis.
CritiTech develops and produces fine-particle drugs at its
Lawrence, Kansas location using a supercritical fluid process
invented at the University of Kansas. CritiTech President
and Chairman, Sam Campbell stated that the company was “excited
about our continued collaboration with the University of Missouri
College of Veterinary Medicine and the commercial opportunity
to use CritiTech’s fine-particle drug technology in
the veterinary field.” The Scott Endowed Program in
Veterinary Oncology at the MU College of Veterinary Medicine
is one of the largest veterinary oncology programs in the
country and actively initiates and participates in clinical
trials as well as provides routine treatment of animals with
cancer, including chemotherapy, cancer surgery and radiation
therapy.
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