Bionovo: study finds MF101 treats menopause symptoms without cancer risks

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, Oct. 19 - Bionovo, Inc. announced Wednesday that new data on the company's lead drug candidate MF101 for the treatment of menopause symptoms shows it could prove to be a safer alternative to currently marketed hormone therapy.

Results of the preclinical and clinical study, presented at an annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, showed that MF101 could treat vasomotor symptoms of menopause, including hot flashes and night sweats, without stimulating estrogen-dependent tumor formation that causes breast or uterine cancer like estrogens currently used in hormone therapy (HT), officials said.

"After the Women's Health Initiative determined that the risks of traditional HT likely outweigh the benefits, there is a clear need for novel, safe compounds to treat or prevent a range of conditions associated with menopause," Jennifer Jackson, of the Center for Reproductive Endocrinology at University of California, San Francisco and lead author of the study, said in the release.

MF101, an ER beta-selective agonist, was shown in animal studies to prevent tumor formation in the breast or uterus, suggesting that it will not increase the risk of breast or uterine cancer. In phase I clinical testing, the drug was found to be safe, well-tolerated and taken with high compliance.

A multicenter phase II double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial is expected to begin in early 2006, company officials said.

Bionovo is an Emeryville, Calif.-based drug development company focused on treatment of cancer and women's health issues.

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