In order to enroll in the Phase II study, patients must meet certain criteria including having newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme and completing appropriate surgical procedures. Patients must be 16 years of age or older. Dr. Levin explains that all patients will receive standard treatment with Temodar. One half of the patients also will receive Prinomastat while the other half will get a placebo. The American Cancer Society estimated that in 1999 nearly 17,000 people would be diagnosed with cancers that started in the brain and that just over 13,000 of them would die.
Brain cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in children.