On April 15, 2014 Vivolux reproted that the FDA has granted clearance to proceed with VLX600 into the clinical Phase I/II (Press release Vivolux, APR 15, 2014, View Source [SID:1234500412]). VLX600 is one of the company’s promising projects, and which was recently published in the journal Nature Communications. Researchers at Vivolux have discovered a novel cancer drug target. The drug candidate kills sleeping cell populations in regions of solid tumors that are metabolically compromised due to poor vascularization – areas that cannot be reached by conventional cancer therapeutics.
The study will be conducted in collaboration with Mayo Clinic Cancer Center. The aim is to determine the dose for future clinical studies. VLX600 is designed to increase the efficacy of radiotherapy and to kill cancer cells that survive traditional chemotherapy.
In solid tumors, there are areas with poor vascular supply where cancer cells divide more slowly due to a lack of oxygen and nutrients. Cancer cells in these areas enter a sleeping state. The ‘sleeping cells’ start proliferating after treatment with radiotherapy or conventional chemotherapy, resulting in regrowth of tumors. Such regrowth between therapy cycles is a major clinical problem. Vivolux drug candidate, VLX600, kills sleeping cancer cells by interrupting the power supply in the cells’ power plants – the mitochondria.