Lorus Completes Study of GTI-2040 Combination Therapy for Kidney Cancer

Lorus Therapeutics has completed its Phase II trial of GTI-2040 in combination with capecitabine in patients with advanced and metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

GTI-2040 is a highly specific inhibitor of R2, a component of ribonucleotide reductase, which can behave as a malignant determinant for cancer growth and metastasis, and is abnormally elevated in renal cell carcinoma and many other cancers.

All 33 patients entering this study had advanced disease with multiple metastatic sites, with or without prior removal of the primary kidney tumor. However, more than half of the patients on the recommended dose exhibited disease stabilization or better, including one confirmed partial response.

Durable tumor reductions observed at the recommended dose included a 23 percent reduction of tumor burden in a patient with a disease stabilization of 10 months duration, and a 39 percent reduction of tumor burden in a patient with a partial response to treatment of eight months duration. Other durable disease stabilizations of four to nine months duration were also observed. In keeping with the company's goal of developing anticancer drugs with high safety characteristics, GTI-2040 was well-tolerated when combined with a cytotoxic agent with expected adverse events.