Upcoming Clinical Trial Tests New Drug Combination

Investigational drug pazopanib to be evaluated before and after surgery.

With the American Cancer Society estimating 192,000 new cases of breast cancer this year, researchers at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) have announced a clinical trial which will evaluate a new drug combination for breast cancer patients who are set to undergo surgery to remove the tumor.

The effort intends to look at the process of stopping angiogenesis (blood vessel growth), which is necessary for cancer tumors to grow and spread.

CINJ is one of the participating centers in the United States and Canada conducting the study, which is sponsored by the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project Foundation Research Program. The trial will look at the effects of the investigational drug, pazopanib, when given with chemotherapy before surgery and when given without chemotherapy after surgery. Pazopanib, which is not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has potential to block new blood vessel growth in cancer tumors, as well as targeting and halting certain proteins that help cancer cells grow.

Researchers say that if successful, the drug could improve doctors' ability to reduce the size of breast cancer tumors.

For more information about this trial, visit The Cancer Institute of New Jersey.

July 24, 2009