SkyePharma to present DepoCyt paper

It was announced yesterday that William R Shapiro, MD at St Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, Phoenix is to present a paper on neoplastic meningitis treatment DepoCyt at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s 2006 annual meeting.

DepoCyt is a sustained release injectable formulation of cytarabine, which SkyePharma states is known for its effectiveness in treating neoplastic meningitis, and is recognised in both Europe and the USA for its use in treating lymphatous meningitis – a form of cancer that affects the lymphatic system.

Dr Shapiro’s paper, entitled A randomised phase III/IV study to determine benefit and safety of cytarabine liposome injection for treatment of neoplastic meningitis, will not be the only one given on Depocyt at the meeting as Michael J Glantz, MD from the Oncology Department of the University of Massachusetts, will also present on the subject.

Standard treatments using cytarabine involve two spinal injections given over the course of the week, which the manufacturer states are “uncomfortable for the patient and carry significant risks including the introduction of infection”. As such, SkyePharma also highlighted yesterday its own delivery system – DepoFoamTM ? which transfers cytarabine into a water based solution.

The manufacturer states that this method “brings much less disruption to the life of the patient, reduces the associated risks accompanying frequent injections and also brings savings in hospital costs with the reduced admission rate”.

SkyePharma carries out its research on DepoFoam technology at its base in San Diego using a team of 56 scientists.

© Adfero Ltd