Testing on patients is still at a very early stage. This receptor studs the surfaces of cells in certain ovarian, prostate, lung and brain tumors. Malkin has been testing the drug, SU101, on patients with an extraordinarily deadly brain tumor called glioblastoma. Median survival for a patient found to have this cancer is 14 months. So far, the drug, manufactured by Sugen, appears to slow or arrest tumor growth in about a third of glioblastoma patients, but it's too soon to say how long the benefits will last.
Side effects appear to be mild.
His tumor is still there, but it's stable. For someone with recurrent glioblastoma, that's remarkable. Malkin is quick to point out that one growth-factor inhibitor isn't going to cure cancer. Cancer is a complicated disease. Tumors usually are made up of different types of cells, expressing different genes, sensitive to different growth factors and therefore responding to different drugs.