Dr. Alexzander Asea is focused on triple-negative breast cancer research, in the hopes of helping many women.
on your team, she’ll create a sense of
urgency to complete the research and
move on to clinical trials.”
As the project moves toward trials, the
drug will be manufactured in Scott &
White’s Cancer Research Institute’s
Clinical Good Laboratory Practice (cGLP)
laboratories under the leadership of
Arthur Frankel, MD. This will take one to
two years, Dr. Asea says. If the drug is
approved by the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), Phase I and Phase
II of the clinical trials will be conducted at
Scott & White with Dr. Frankel as lead
clinical oncologist. Dr. Asea says about 50
patients will be needed for the first two
phases, which will take two years. If the
drug is deemed safe and works as
predicted, then the research will proceed to
Phase III, a nationwide trial with
thousands of patients.
At the Phase III stage the project will
move beyond Scott & White for the first
time. “We’re really in a unique position to
be able to have the development of the
drug right here, the manufacturing of the
drug right here, and Phases I and II right
here. There are not many centers around
the world that can boast that,” says
Dr. Asea, emphasizing that Scott &
White’s Cancer Research Institute is one
of only a few centers in the world that
focuses on development of drugs.
Dr. Asea is optimistic that NampEVA
will advance toward clinical trials. ■
Dr. Asea also is an associate professor of
pathology and laboratory medicine, the Texas
A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine.
Dr. Frankel also is a professor of medicine,
the Texas A&M Health Science Center College
of Medicine.
www.sw.org | Winter 11 THE CATALYST
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