For the first time ever, physicians tested on humans a substance that only attacks cancer cells and does not damage healthy cells. Patients have recorded no negative side-effects so far.
“Our patient who received her first dose has been without any complications. The drug is definitely promising. It does not attack healthy cells, which is not negligible at all because all types of chemotherapy have unwanted effects like hair loss and digestion problems. Let’s hope that no such side effects appear with this drug,” said physician David Belada from the University Hospital Hradec Králové.
The substance GS-9219, developed by Czech chemist Antonín Holý at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, has been tested for a few weeks now at five hematology and oncology clinics in Prague, Brno, Hradec Králové and Olomouc. Only four to five patients will take part in the first stage of testing when doctors check whether at all the substance can be used with humans.
“If there was a fundamental problem and the substance had any side effects, we would pass the information to physicians in all clinics. But we have not registered any major problem. We assume that the testing will be relatively smooth,” Belada said.
The first weeks of testing are very important, physicians say. If patients have no problems, there is a chance for the drug to get to the second and third stages of testing where the effects of the drug are examined. For instance tumours in dogs disappeared within one week.
”The first stage may last for another four or five months. Stage two should start in May or June,” said Belada. As many as thousands of patients could participate in the subsequent tests that are expected to take five-to-seven years. Only after this stage of testing the drug could be offered on the market.
The clinical tests of the drug in the Czech Republic are funded by US company Gilead Sciences. The testing worth hundreds of millions of dollars involves patients both in the Czech Republic and the US.
“We have opted for the Czech Republic because the substance was developed by a Czech scientist. Moreover, the recruitment of patients in the USA is limited given the large number of such clinical tests,” Tomáš Cihlář of Gilead Sciences told HN earlier.
Physicians choose patients on their own among people with whom all other types of therapy failed. Patients give their written consent with the testing, and if their health worsens during the process, they can withdraw from the tests.
