Botanical Extract Yields Cancer Drug

A new clinical formulation based on a botanical extract may provide doctors with a new tool for treating aggressive late-stage breast cancer.

The oral drug BZL101 is derived from an Asian botanical herb called Scutellaria barbara. The drug is being developed by Bionovo, Inc. (Emerville, CA, USA). The company believes the herb's main agent has the ability to identify and target malignant cells while leaving normal cells intact and healthy.

BZL101 works by eliciting a cancer cell's innate mechanism of apoptosis. The drug selectively releases apoptosis-inducing factor-1 (AIF1) from a cancer cell's mitochondrial membrane. AIF then moves to the cell's nucleus, distinguishing the DNA structure and fragmenting and killing the cancer cell.

Bionovo scientists have shown that although AIF exists in all cells, this protein-translocation process can be elicited exclusively in cancer cells while avoiding normal cells. "In the cell, AIF is responsible for killing cells that don't perform their intended functions or cells that are not in their proper place, such as cancer cells, which lose functions through mutations and invade local and distant tissues,” explained Dr. Isaac Cohen, president and CEO of Bionovo.

A phase 1 study on BZL101 was recently conducted by researchers at the University of California at San Francisco (USA) and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas, USA), who reported favorable data. From the initial study of 21 patients with advanced metastatic breast cancer, 16 were evaluated for final results. It was concluded that four of the 16 had stable disease for greater than 90 days and three of the 16 had stable disease that lasted more than 180 days. Five patients had objective tumor regression, and all 16 demonstrated little-to-no side effects from the drug.

"While safety was the primary endpoint of the trial, it is work noting that BZL101 showed elements of clinical efficacy similar to what we have observed in early-stage studies of currently marketed therapies,” noted Dr. Debu Tripathy, M.D., director of the Breast Cancer Research Program at the Southwestern Medical Center. "Future studies are planned to explore the drug further.”



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