The drug was discovered at Penn State's College of Medicine in the late 1980s by Ian Zagon, Ph.D., professor of neuroscience and anatomy and Patricia McLaughlin, D. Ed., associate professor of neuroscience and anatomy. The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center will be the only site for this phase I trial.
Pancreatic cancer is a terrible disease that is nearly always fatal.
The trial has recently started with six patients enrolled so far. Researchers are looking for a total of 21 patients for this first phase. We are trying to establish a maximum-tolerated dosage for patients during this phase. We want to give patients as much of this as possible to help slow the growth of tumors. Intitally, the drug will be given over a 30 minute period per session.