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Get reimbursement support and assistance with CORE: Cephalon Oncology Reimbursement Expertise.
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Learn about studies now in progress for new agents in development.
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Cancer is mediated by signaling pathways that program cell survival and cell death. In cancer, normal mechanisms of cell death are blocked, allowing cells to escape their programmed death, which leaves cell proliferation unchecked.
The focus of Cephalon Oncology is to discover the mechanisms that block cell-death programs and to develop compounds to inhibit those mechanisms. Our current oncology research program is targeting a broad range of cancers such as acute myeloid leukemia (AML), acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), non-Hodgkins lymphoma (NHL), chronic lympohcytic leukemia (CLL), multiple myeloma (MM), and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS).
Most cancer therapies are designed to arrest and kill rapidly dividing cells non-selectively. Thus, traditional chemotherapy and radiation therapy kill all rapidly dividing cells, including both normal and cancerous cells, and the benefits of these therapies are often limited by their toxicity to normal cells. Cephalon Oncology believes that by targeting the mechanisms that block cell death in cancer cells, researchers can deliver more selective therapies to the marketplace and reduce toxic side effects associated with current cancer treatments.
We are also continuing to advance breakthrough cancer pain management, enhancing convenience and patient quality of life in supportive care.
Developing novel, cytotoxic and molecular targeted agents for leukemias and lymphomas
Hematologic cancers include acute myeloid leukemia (AML) non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), multiple myeloma (MM), and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) among others.
AML is a malignant cancer that originates in the bone marrow cells, characterized by the uncontrolled growth of myeloid cells of the blood and bone marrow, which eventually crowds out and destroys normal blood cells. The lack of normal white cells impairs the body's ability to fight infections. A shortage of platelets results in bruising and easy bleeding. AML strikes more than 12,000 adults in the US annually, making it the most common form of adult leukemia and the second most common childhood leukemia.
The Cephalon Oncology solution
Cephalon Oncology is researching novel, cytotoxic and molecular targeted agents for the treatment of these hematologic cancers, including AML, NHL, MDS, MM, and CLL.
AML treatment
FLT3 mutations occur in AML and denote a poor outcome. We have developed a potent inhibitor of FLT3, a kinase that is thought to be an important cancer target in a group of AML patients with a poor prognosis. Normally, FLT3 is involved in the growth and maturation of healthy blood cells. In AML patients with FLT3 mutations, the cell signaling pathways may promote uncontrolled cell growth. Cephalon's compound, CEP 701 (lestaurtinib), has been shown to block the signaling ability of mutant FLT3 in preclinical studies.2, 3 CEP-701 is currently being tested in humans as an AML therapy in a randomized Phase II clinical trial.
Click here for more information on the clinical study of CEP-701.
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