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news.Nuvilex, a clinical-stage international biotechnology company, has announced that all preparations for the commencement of its preclinical studies to determine the effectiveness of Nuvilex's pancreatic cancer treatment in slowing down the accumulation of ascites fluid have been completed.
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As previously announced, Translational Drug Development, LLC (TD2) will conduct the study. Ascites fluid accumulates in the abdomen and is usually associated with the development of advanced pancreatic and other abdominal cancers.
Austrianova Singapore is providing the live cells to be encapsulated using Nuvilex’s Cell-in-a-Box(R) technology, which are capable of converting the cancer prodrug ifosfamide, along with the prodrug itself. The live cells are expected to arrive at TD2’s facility in Scottsdale, Arizona, during the first week of August 2014. The preclinical study will commence almost immediately after their arrival.
"Now that we have completed all preparations for the start of the preclinical studies on the accumulation of ascites fluid in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, we have the opportunity to demonstrate that our Cell-in-a-Box(R) technology is one of the most diverse platform technologies to emerge in the medical field over the past decade," said Kenneth L. Waggoner, CEO and President of Nuvilex.
"While this is our first opportunity to thoroughly evaluate our technology in the U.S., we anticipate that the commencement of these preclinical studies will begin to provide validation for that belief."
Nuvilex’s pancreatic cancer treatment, which combines the Cell-in-a-Box(R) live-cell encapsulation technology with the well-known anticancer drug ifosfamide, will be studied with the expectation that it can improve the quality of life of pancreatic cancer patients by slowing down the accumulation of ascites fluid in the abdomen.
This is a chronic condition which is common for those having solid tumors in their abdomen. This fluid must be removed on a periodic basis – a situation which is exceedingly taxing on the patients.
The organs of the abdomen are contained in a sac or membrane called the peritoneum. Normally the peritoneal cavity contains no fluid. Metastatic cancer in the abdomen is the predominate cause of ascites, a condition that is not just limited to pancreatic cancer. It can be caused by many forms of cancer in the abdomen.
Because this type of ascites fluid accumulation is a result of an abdominal cancer, the fluid itself can contain cancerous cells, which, in turn, can "seed" at various places in the abdomen and form new tumors.