N.Z. anti-cancer drug could earn $10M yearly

Press, 28 February 1984, Page 11

N.Z. anti-cancer drug could earn $10M yearly

PA Auckland An anti-cancer drug developed in Auckland could earn at least $5 million to $lO million a year if it were marketed, said a visiting American drug company executive at the weekend. Dr Ed Elslager, vicepresident of chemotherapy for the Warner-Lambert Company’s pharmaceutical research division in Michigan, is in Auckland for a week of talks with the team at the Auckland Cancer Society’s research laboratory. Warner-Lambert has a four-year contract to develop further interesting new compounds developed in Auckland. The first drug produced in Auckland to go to clinical trials, amsacrine, is now being marketed in Canada,

Mexico, Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands, and will soon be registered in the United States. Now a relative of amsacrine, known as SN 21407, is showing even more promise. The compound has been shown to be effective against lung cancers in mice, and clinical trials in humans may start early next year. If it shows big advantages over drugs at present available, there would be a very large, multi-million dollar market, Dr Elslager said. “It would earn at least $5 million to $ll million a year” he said. The drug is now being tested for any dangerous side effects. If any were found, the drug would not go for clinical trials, but Dr Elslager believed the new compound had a 90 per cent chance of proceeding to the

human tests. “The drug has exceptionally good anti-tumour activity in animals, and it is reasonably well tolerated. It is one of the more promising compounds we have under investigation,” he said. The work being done by the Auckland team was outstanding, Dr Elslager said. “It is one of the most outstanding research groups in the world. Its multidisciplinary make-up is unique in academic circles.” Dr Elslager said he did not want prematurely to raise false hopes about any drug until it was proved in humans rather than mice. “So much can go wrong between animal tests and getting a drug on the market. If there was a market for curing tumours in mice, we would really be in business,” he said.