halichondrin-b and Alopecia

In the new era of 'precision' cancer medicine, new drug development has shifted from cytotoxic chemotherapy to molecularly targeted agents. Eribulin mesylate, a microtubule-destabilizing agent, is the only 'classical' cytotoxic agent approved for the treatment of breast cancer in the last 7 years. This synthetic analogue of halichondrin B, isolated from the marine sponge 'Halicondria Okaida', was responsible for prolonging overall survival of heavily pretreated metastatic breast cancer patients in a large Phase III trial. Eribulin is now under clinical development in earlier settings such as the neo-adjuvant and adjuvant settings. Furthermore, its unique mechanism of action and the absence of cross-resistance with taxanes have led to the design of clinical trials in multiple indications: bladder cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer… The main adverse events are neutropenia, fatigue and peripheral neuropathy.

Topics: Alopecia; Antineoplastic Agents; Breast Neoplasms; Carcinoma; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; Clinical Trials as Topic; Drug Approval; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; Drugs, Investigational; Ethers, Cyclic; Fatigue; Female; Furans; Humans; Ketones; Macrolides; Molecular Targeted Therapy; Multicenter Studies as Topic; Neoadjuvant Therapy; Neutropenia; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases; Tubulin Modulators; United States; United States Food and Drug Administration

Eisai Co Ltd is developing eribulin, a simplified synthetic macrocyclic ketone analog of the tubulin inhibitor halichondrin B, for the potential treatment of cancer. Phase III trials are underway in the US and Europe for patients with breast cancer. Eribulin is currently in phase II trials for NSCLC and soft tissue sarcoma, and pancreatic, prostate, ovarian, fallopian tube, peritoneal and head and neck cancer, and phase I/II trials for urothelial cancers.

Topics: Alopecia; Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Apoptosis; Cell Line; Cell Line, Tumor; Clinical Trials, Phase I as Topic; Clinical Trials, Phase II as Topic; Clinical Trials, Phase III as Topic; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; Ethers, Cyclic; Fatigue; Furans; Humans; Hypoglycemia; Hypophosphatemia; Inhibitory Concentration 50; Ketones; Macrolides; Molecular Structure; Multicenter Studies as Topic; Nausea; Neoplasms; Neutropenia; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Survival Analysis; Tubulin Modulators; Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays