BioCentury
ARTICLE | Targets & Mechanisms

Gut feeling about Camptosar

November 18, 2010 8:00 AM UTC

Pfizer Inc.'s Camptosar irinotecan is a part of standard therapy for colorectal cancer, but many patients are forced to discontinue treatment because of severe GI toxicity. Now, a group at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has found that inhibiting a bacterial enzyme in the gut called b-glucuronidase could solve the GI problems, thus allowing more patients to receive Camptosar for longer periods of time.1

Camptosar (CPT-11) is a camptothecin derivative that inhibits...