Curis, a drug company developing next-generation targeted small-molecule drug candidates for cancer treatment, announced that the first patient has been treated in a phase I combination trial of its CUDC-101 head and neck cancer drug.
The trial is the company's first CUDC-101 combination study and is designed to test the drug when administered concurrently with radiation and cisplatin in human papillomavirus negative (HPV-) locally advanced head and neck cancer patients. CUDC-101 has been designed as an inhibitor of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), and histone deacetylase (HDAC).
"It has been shown that most head and neck cancers overexpress EGFR and that a portion of these tumors also overexpress HER2, both molecular targets of CUDC-101," stated Dan Passeri, Curis' president and CEO, in a press release. "Furthermore, CUDC-101 has demonstrated clinical activity in head and neck cancer in Curis' previous dose escalation and expansion studies. In addition, preclinical data suggests that HDAC inhibition, the third target of CUDC-101, can enhance the effects of both radiation and cisplatin therapy."
