Senesco Technologies Inc. reported the opening of two new sites in the Republic of South Africa at Pretoria East Hospital and Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town. Treatment of the first patient in South Africa has been initiated in Senesco’s Phase 1b/2a clinical study of its product candidate, SNS01-T.
“We are excited to have opened our first clinical sites outside of North America,” said Leslie Browne, president and chief executive officer of Senesco. “The urban locations of Cape Town and Pretoria will provide access to a broader population of myeloma and lymphoma patients.”
Pretoria East Hospital, a modern 358-bed facility, includes the Albert Stem Cell Transplant Unit which is the largest center of its kind in Africa. This hematology program mostly treats patients with blood and marrow disorders, lymph cancers and also metabolic disorders. It has state-of-the-art equipment and facilities to rival those found anywhere else in the world.
Groote Schuur Hospital (GSH) is the teaching hospital of the University of Cape Town (UCT) which first gained global fame when, in December 1967, a young UCT educated surgeon named Dr. Christiaan Barnard completed the world’s first successful human heart transplant. GSH has a Clinical Hematology Division that provides comprehensive services to patients with blood disorders, including hematological malignancies. There is an active bone marrow transplant program, which is a national referral center.
“We are pleased to have initiated the treatment of our first patient in Pretoria. Cape Town and Pretoria are experienced research centers with state of the art hematology and oncology facilities,” said Alice Bexon, vice president of clinical development. “South Africa has the benefit of modern medical facilities and up-to-date approaches to treatment but patients do not have access to as many therapeutic options as in the US.”
The study is an open-label, multiple-dose, dose-escalation study, which is evaluating the safety and tolerability of SNS01-T when administered by intravenous infusion to approximately 15 relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, mantle cell (MCL) or diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients. While the primary objective of this study is to evaluate safety and tolerability, the effect of SNS01-T on tumor response and time to relapse or progression will be assessed using multiple well-established metrics including measurement of monoclonal protein in multiple myeloma and CT imaging in MCL and DLBC.
Date: March 12, 2014
Source: Senesco Technologies