CANCER PATIENTS MAY HAVE HOPE FOR TREATMENT

SINGAPORE, Jan 6 (Bernama) -- Patients with locally advanced squamous cell
cancer of the head and neck may be cured of the disease if a worldwide clinical
trial on a new targeted therapy drug to treat the cancer is proven a success.

The clinical trial, to be completed in three to five years, will involve at
least 22 institutions from 12 countries worldwide.

The National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) is taking the lead role as the
main cancer centre coordinating the trial which is to begin this March.

Last Friday, NCCS formalised its collaboration with Innogene Kalbiotech Pte
Ltd, a Singapore based company that develops and commercialises innovative
drugs.

The centre aims to have the first results of the clinical trial reported in
about five years.

The countries involved in the trial span from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan,
Thailand, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Israel to South Africa and
Cuba.

Participation of Australia, Canada, Philippines, and the United Kingdom was
also under consideration, NCCS said.

The trial would involve 700 patients and include those with locally advanced
squamous cancer of the head and neck and who had had surgery, the centre said.

Half of the patients would be treated with the new targeted drug,
Nimotuzumab, which would be administered weekly for an eight-week period, and
would be given together with standard chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

NCCS said the trial was expected to offer an assessment of the drug's
efficacy, tolerability and influence on disease-free and progression-free
survival for this particular indication.

NCCS Director Prof Soo Khee Chee said each year an average of 200 people
suffered from this form of head and neck cancer, and he hoped that the trial on
a larger group of patients would improve survival for this aggressive cancer.
-- BERNAMA