The United States FDA has awarded Fast Track Designation to the investigational drug AVB-S6-500 for the potential treatment of platinum-resistant recurrent ovarian cancer. You can find out more detailed information from the source press release, which can be found here at Business Wire.
About Ovarian Cancer
Ovarian cancer affects the ovaries, a pair of small organs involved in producing eggs. According to the NHS, ovarian cancer usually develops in women who have been through menopause, but this is not always the case. Symptoms that can be caused by ovarian cancer include always feeling bloated, stomach swelling and discomfort, quickly feeling full when eating, and needing to pee frequently. Ovarian cancer can be difficult to recognise since many of these symptoms are also characteristics of other more common conditions.
Ovarian cancer is known as recurrent when the cancer has come back, typically after a period of time in which that cancer couldn’t be detected. Cancer can re-occur in the same place as it originally developed, or in another part of the body. According to the website for the charity Target Ovarian Cancer, ovarian cancer is considered platinum-resistant if it returns within six months of treatment with platinum, which can be carboplatin or cisplatin.
About AVB-S6-500
The investigational drug AVB-S6-500 is designed to block a signalling pathway involved in tumour growth, metastases, immune evasion, and anticancer agent resistance. The pathway is called the GAS6-AXL pathway, and AVB-S6-500 is thought to block its activation through interrupting the binding between GAS6 and the receptor AXL.
So far, AVB-S6-500 has been researched in a Phase 1 clinical study that involved healthy volunteers. This study showed that the drug had a favourable safety profile since no serious or dose-limiting adverse events were found. The study also identified GAS6 as a potential biomarker that may be useful for monitoring and predicting responses to the drug in the future.
