Dendreon beefs up pipeline work with oral cancer drug

Looking to expand its research pipeline and get ready for the day when Provenge won't be its lead development program anymore, Dendreon has launched a Phase I trial of a new oral cancer drug.

D3263 targets TRPM8 (a transmembrane cation channel protein) in cancer cells and induces cell death. This is an open-label, dose-escalation study evaluating the safety and activity of the drug in patients with solid tumors that are resistant to standard therapies.

"D3263 is a drug candidate that has potential applicability to multiple types of cancer as well as to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH)," stated Mark Frohlich, M.D., senior vice president of clinical affairs and chief medical officer of Dendreon. "The ability of D3263 to inhibit growth of TRPM8 expressing tumors in preclinical studies coupled with its oral bioavailability make it an appealing product candidate to advance into human clinical trials."

- read the Dendreon release

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