Thursday, May 29, 2008

Aveo Pharmaceuticals moves into Phase 2 with cancer drug

By Mass High Tech Staff

Officials at Aveo Pharmaceuticals Inc. report that the company has completed enrollment in a Phase 2 clinical trial of a drug to treat patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC).

The 200-patient, 16-week trial of the drug AV-951 will test the safety and effectiveness of once-daily, oral administration of the drug at more than 30 sites in Europe and India.

The drug AV-951 is an angiogenesis inhibitor, which slows the growth of blood vessels in tumors. Cambridge-based Aveo has also recently launched a Phase 1b trial of AV-951 in combination with temsirolimus in patients with mRCC.

In addition to its own clinical pipeline, Aveo has collaborations with Eli Lilly, Merck, OSI Pharmaceuticals and Schering-Plough.