Sunesis data of SNS-595 shows promising clinical activity

By Elaine Rigoli

Tampa, Fla., April 4 - Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. presented clinical and preclinical data on the company's lead compound, SNS-595, at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

In a poster titled "A phase 1 trial of weekly SNS-595 in patients with refractory cancer," Sunesis reported data from a dose-escalating clinical study of 21 patients with advanced solid tumors designed to examine the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of a weekly dosing regimen.

SNS-595 demonstrated promising signs of clinical activity, with six of 21 patients, or almost one-third, experiencing sustained disease control lasting at least 16 weeks, including a confirmed partial response at the maximum-tolerated dose in a patient with mesothelioma, according to a news release.

Sunesis is conducting two phase 2 clinical studies of SNS-595 among non-small cell lung cancer and small cell lung cancer patients, as well as a phase 1 dose-escalation clinical study in patients with acute leukemias, the release said.

The acute leukemia study is exploring two dose regimens, with weekly and twice-weekly dosing.

Sunesis also presented SNS-595 preclinical data explaining the compound's mechanism of action and demonstrating that SNS-595 acts synergistically with a wide variety of chemotherapeutic agents in vitro and exhibits potent activity in vivo against hematologic malignancies.

SNS-595 was found to be synergistic when combined with a number of chemotherapeutic drugs, including DNA-damaging agents, antimetabolites and an Hsp90 inhibitor, geldanamycin, the release said.

In addition, preclinical studies of SNS-595 demonstrating potent antiproliferative activity in human leukemic cell lines were used in the development of Sunesis' current phase 1 clinical study among patients with acute leukemias.

South San Francisco-based Sunesis is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel small molecule therapeutics for oncology and other serious diseases.

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