Clinical trial of new cancer therapy initiated
Magnus Essand and Justyna Leja-Jarblad at IGP have got approval from the Medical Product Agency and the Regional Ethics Committee for a clinical trial of their method to treat neuroendocrine tumours with oncolytic viruses
In 2013 Magnus Essand and Justyna Leja-Jarblad, together with Kjell Öber at the Department of Medical Sciences, had established a virus strain that successfully could be used to treat neuroendocrine tumours in mice. However, to move forward clinical test were needed and they are very costly to perform. To this end the Oncolytic Virus Fund was created, to which the public could donate money to support the initiation of a clinical trial.
The Medical Product Agency and the Regional Ethics Committee in Uppsala have now approved that trial treatments can be performed and the first patient has signed up to participate in the treatment. In total 12 patients will be included in the Phase I study where different doses are tested to see whether there are any side effects, Subsequently, more patients will be included in the Phase IIa study, where the main purpose is to study the effects of the therapy.
More information:
The Oncolytic Virus Fund (Link removed)
Magnus Essand (Link removed)