A Phase I Study of the Chinese Herbal Medicine PHY906 as a Modulator of Irinotecan-based Chemotherapy in Patients with Advanced Colorectal Cancer

Old formula, new Rx: The journey of PHY906 as cancer adjuvant therapy

“…In contrast, treatment with a single dose of CPT-11 resulted in 60% survival of the tumor-bearing mice after 14 days. However, this survival rate dramatically improved to 100% after receiving 4 days of PHY906 treatment in combination with CPT-11 (Kummar et al, 2011) (Fig. 1).…”

“…Eighteen patients were enrolled in the study: 17 patients received the IFL regimen and one patient received CPT-11 monotherapy. Among the 17 patients receiving the IFL regimen, 9 of 13 patients in cohort I (69.2%), and 3 of 4 patients in cohort II (60.0%) completed the study (Farrell and Kummar, 2003;Kummar et al, 2011). Eleven patients in cohort 1 and two patients in cohort 2 experienced treatment-related side effects during treatments with either PHY906 or placebo.…”

“…The results were highly encouraging. PHY906 was shown to provide cytoprotective effects without dampening the anti-tumor activity of chemotherapeutic agents in liver, pancreatic, and colorectal cancer patients under chemotherapy (Yen et al, 2009;Saif et al, 2007;Saif, 2008a,b;Saif et al, 2009Saif et al, , 2010aFarrell and Kummar, 2003;Kummar et al, 2011).To ensure that consistent batches of PHY906 can be made, a comprehensive technology platform termed "PhytomicsQC" that integrated chemical fingerprints and biological fingerprints, analysed by novel statistical analysis, was developed to evaluate different batches of PHY906. It was demonstrated PHY906 can be made with consistency (Tilton et al, 2010).…”

An update on Chinese herbal medicines as adjuvant treatment of anticancer therapeutics

“…PHY906 was also demonstrated to decrease toxicity from fractionated abdominal irradiation by promoting faster recovery of the intestine (87). Additional preclinical studies have shown that PHY906 could reduce the toxicity associated with CTP-11 treatment while increasing CTP-11's antitumor effects in metastatic colorectal cancer (86). Clinical studies indicated that PHY906 treatment could result in a significant decrease in patient's gastrointestinal toxicity, and no PHY906-associated toxicity has been observed (84).…”

“…PHY906 not only enhances the antitumor efficacy of some anticancer drugs but also alleviates chemotherapy-induced side effects, such as diarrhea (84). PHY906 can serve as an adjuvant to Sorafenib, CTP-11, 5-FU, leucovorin (LV), and capecitabine in the treatment of advanced colorectal, pancreatic, and liver cancer (85,86).…”