TAS-108, also known as SR-16234, is a drug discovered by
Masato Tanabe
Masato "Mas" Tanabe was a drug researcher at SRI International, where he spent 45 years studying steroid hormones, which are instrumental in combatting breast cancer and prostate cancer.
Education
Tanabe graduated from the University of San Franc ...
and under development by
SRI International and
Taiho Pharmaceutical. It is a
steroid hormone that has shown signs of treating and preventing
breast cancer, even in patients where
tamoxifen has failed.
Development
Masato Tanabe's team at SRI has focused on the development of steroid hormones. A compound discovered in a previous SRI contract from the
National Institutes of Health showed potential – it acted like "anti-estrogen" in the breasts and uterus but like normal estrogen elsewhere in the body, and was more "tissue-selective".
A contract was proposed to
Taiho Pharmaceutical in July 1996, and within six years and slightly under $3 million (an unusually short amount of time), two new drugs were discovered and tested on people (particularly people for which
tamoxifen has failed): SR-16234 and SR-16287.
The first of those, SR-16234, also inhibited the growth of blood vessels
angiogenesis
Angiogenesis is the physiological process through which new blood vessels form from pre-existing vessels, formed in the earlier stage of vasculogenesis. Angiogenesis continues the growth of the vasculature by processes of sprouting and splitting ...
and accelerated the death of cancer cells
apoptosis
Apoptosis (from grc, ἀπόπτωσις, apóptōsis, 'falling off') is a form of programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms. Biochemical events lead to characteristic cell changes (morphology) and death. These changes incl ...
and thus was particularly well suited to be an anti-cancer drug.
As of August 2010, the drug had been through five Phase I and two Phase II studies,
and Phase III studies are being planned.
See also
*
Cytestrol acetate
Cytestrol acetate is a steroidal antiestrogen and a cytostatic antineoplastic agent (i.e., chemotherapeutic) which was developed for the treatment of breast cancer but was never marketed.Smirnova Z. S, (2003). xperimental Study of Hormonocytosta ...
*
Fulvestrant
*
ICI-164384
ICI-164384, also known as ''N''-''n''-butyl-''N''-methyl-11-(3,17β-dihydroxyestra-1,3,5(10)-trien-7α-yl)undecanamide, is a steroidal antiestrogen and a synthetic derivative of estradiol which is closely related to fulvestrant and was never mark ...
References
External links
SR-16234 (TAS-108) - AdisInsight*
{{Estrogen receptor modulators
Antiestrogens
Estranes
Experimental cancer drugs
SRI International
Taiho Pharmaceutical
Diethylamino compounds