Veliparib Explained

Veliparib (ABT-888)[1] is a potential anti-cancer drug acting as a PARP inhibitor. It kills cancer cells by blocking a protein called PARP, thereby preventing the repair of DNA or genetic damage in cancer cells and possibly making them more susceptible to anticancer treatments. Veliparib may make whole brain radiation treatment work more effectively against brain metastases from NSCLC. It has been shown to potentiate the effects of many chemotherapeutics, and as such has been part of many combination clinical trials.

It inhibits both PARP1 and PARP2 and thereby induces synthetic lethality.It is still being evaluated for the treatment of ovarian cancer.[2]

Development

Veliparib is being developed by AbbVie. It was derived from a prior lead compound (A 620223). The FDA awarded orphan drug status in November 2016 for NSCLC.[3]

Clinical trials

As of 2017, 96 clinical trials involving veliparib had been registered with the FDA. It was included in the I-SPY2 breast cancer trial.[4]

Numerous phase I clinical trials are in progress.[5] Over 40 phase II clinical trials have been registered, for indications such as metastatic melanoma, NSCLC, prostate cancer and brain tumors associated with metastatic primary tumors.

Combination trials have evaluated veliparib in combination with doxorubicin, temozolomide, topotecan, carboplatin, paclitaxel, pemetrexed, cyclophosphamide, gemcitabine, and others.

By June 2014 it was in three phase III trials, for advanced ovarian cancer, triple-negative breast cancer and in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).[6] In 2017, AbbVie reported that veliparib failed to improve outcomes in the triple-negative breast cancer and NSCLC trials.[7]

Notes and References

  1. Donawho CK, Luo Y, Luo Y, Penning TD, Bauch JL, Bouska JJ, Bontcheva-Diaz VD, Cox BF, DeWeese TL, Dillehay LE, Ferguson DC, Ghoreishi-Haack NS, Grimm DR, Guan R, Han EK, Holley-Shanks RR, Hristov B, Idler KB, Jarvis K, Johnson EF, Kleinberg LR, Klinghofer V, Lasko LM, Liu X, Marsh KC, McGonigal TP, Meulbroek JA, Olson AM, Palma JP, Rodriguez LE, Shi Y, Stavropoulos JA, Tsurutani AC, Zhu GD, Rosenberg SH, Giranda VL, Frost DJ . 6 . ABT-888, an orally active poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor that potentiates DNA-damaging agents in preclinical tumor models . Clinical Cancer Research . 13 . 9 . 2728–2737 . May 2007 . 17473206 . 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-06-3039 . 15532443 . free .
  2. Boussios S, Karihtala P, Moschetta M, Abson C, Karathanasi A, Zakynthinakis-Kyriakou N, Ryan JE, Sheriff M, Rassy E, Pavlidis N . 6 . Veliparib in ovarian cancer: a new synthetically lethal therapeutic approach . Investigational New Drugs . 38 . 1 . 181–193 . February 2020 . 31650446 . 10.1007/s10637-019-00867-4 . 204882729 .
  3. Web site: Veliparib - Abbvie . Adis Insight . Springer Nature Switzerland AG .
  4. Web site: Fox M . Breast cancer study aims to speed drugs, cooperation . March 2010 . Reuters .
  5. Web site: 106 Studies found for: ABT-888 . ClinicalTrialsGov . U.S. National Library of Medicine .
  6. Web site: AbbVie takes PARP inhibitor into third phase III trial. . June 2014 . PMLiVE . PMGroup .
  7. News: Taylor NP . AbbVie PARP inhibitor veliparib flunks two phase 3 trials . Fierce Biotech . 20 April 2017 .