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- Phortress (2-(4-aminophenyl) benzothiazoles)
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((Dimethoxyphenyl) - benzothiazoles) - Second Generation Temozolomide Programme (Glioma, melanoma)
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Second Generation Temozolomide Programme (Glioma, melanoma)
Temozolomide is a highly effective cytotoxic agent which works through methylation of DNA, leading to cell death. It was discovered by Pharminox's Chief Scientific Officer, Malcolm Stevens, and is now approved in all major markets for the treatment of different types of brain cancer, having been licensed to the US pharmaceutical company Schering-Plough. Since approval it has rapidly become the standard of care in this indication, and it is also now being clinically evaluated in malignant melanoma.
Temozolomide is most useful in a relatively small number of tumour types, because the majority of tumours have intracellular mechanisms that repair the DNA damage caused by the drug.
The Pharminox strategy is therefore to take advantage of our discovery team's intimate knowledge of the chemistry around the original temozolomide programme by undertaking rapid and focused medicinal chemistry to design a single agent with potency at least equivalent to temozolomide and with the ability to overcome these DNA repair mechanisms, thereby offering the potential for a drug with a much broader spectrum of activity.
