For the second day in a row, I' blogging about Paclitaxel. This time as a therapeutic against pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related mortality in the US.

MediGene AG announced the initiation of a phase II Clinical trial of drug candidate EndoTAGÖ1 (temporary name), a combination of paclitaxel and a unique carrier system which targets paclitaxel to newly formed blood vessels. EndoTAG� aims at starving cancerous tumors by destroying blood vessels and thereby cutting off nutrient supply.

Dr. Peter Heinrich, MediGene CEO, says

"Following several phase I/II trials in different indications with 151 patients showing safety and promising efficacy trends of EndoTAGÖ1, we are continuing the clinical development of this innovative drug candidate. The platform technology EndoTAG� has a great potential for the treatment of various solid, highly vascularized tumors. Therefore we plan to start further trials in other cancer indications in 2006."

Read MediGene's press release here.