“This Phase Ib study is the first step toward developing T-type calcium channel blockers as a new class of compounds for the treatment of cancer,” said Dr. Lloyd S. Gray, vice president of scientific discovery at Tau Therapeutics. “When used in Interlaced Therapy, we believe that mibefradil and other T-type calcium channel inhibitors will amplify the cancer-killing effect of current chemotherapies, thereby offering an improvement over standard treatments.”  

 

The trial will commence at several ABTC sites, including Johns Hopkins University, Henry Ford Health System, Emory University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh and Wake Forest University.  

Once the maximum tolerated dose of mibefradil is determined, additional patients will be recruited in a dose-expansion cohort to ensure safety and measure the effect of mibefradil on tumor metabolism as demonstrated by F-18 FLT PET scans. This trial is the first to evaluate the use of F-18 FLT PET scanning in brain cancer.  

 

Tau plans to present the results of the Phase Ib trial in 2013.