Pralatrexate, sold under the brand name Folotyn, is a medication used for the treatment of relapsed or refractory
peripheral T-cell lymphoma
Peripheral T-cell lymphoma refers to a group of T-cell lymphomas that develop away from the thymus or bone marrow.
Examples include:
* Cutaneous T-cell lymphomas
* Angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma
* Extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma, nas ...
(PTCL).
Pralatrexate was approved for medical use in the United States in September 2009, as the first treatment for Peripheral T-cell Lymphoma (PTCL), an often aggressive type of
non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
Medical uses
Pralatrexate is
indicated
In medicine, an indication is a valid reason to use a certain test, medication, procedure, or surgery. There can be multiple indications to use a procedure or medication. An indication can commonly be confused with the term diagnosis. A diagnosis ...
for the treatment of people with relapsed or refractory peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL).
Mechanism
Pralatrexate is a dihydrofolate reductase inhibitor.
Discovery
Research on this class of drugs began in the 1950s at
SRI International
SRI International (SRI) is an American nonprofit scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California. The trustees of Stanford University established SRI in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic ...
, where scientists were focused on developing new
chemotherapies
Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemothera ...
and antifolates that would be effective against
tumor cells
A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...
.
[, Allos Therapeutics Press Release, "Allos Therapeutics' Pralatrexate Demonstrates Anticancer Activity in Multiple Cancer Cell Lines".]
In the late 1970s, researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center discovered that cancerous cells take in natural folate through a protein identified as plasma membrane transporter (now referred to as "reduced folate carrier type 1" or "RFC-1"). Further research showed that when normal cells evolve into cancerous cells they often overproduce RFC-1 to ensure they get enough folate.
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Press Release, "FDA Approves Lymphoma Drug Developed at Memorial Sloan Kettering".
A subsequent scientific collaboration was ultimately formed among SRI International, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and the Southern Research Institute with the intention of developing an antifolate with greater therapeutic selectivity – an agent that could be more effectively internalized into tumors (transported into the cells through RFC-1) and would be more toxic to cancer cells than normal cells.
This collaboration, supported by the National Cancer Institute, led to the identification of pralatrexate in the mid-1990s. Pralatrexate was later licensed to Allos Therapeutics in 2002 for further development.
Allos Therapeutics, Inc. was acquired by Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. on September 5, 2012. Allos is a wholly owned subsidiary of Spectrum.
Society and culture
Legal status
Pralatrexate was approved for medical use in the United States in September 2009.
[ ]
Economics
Some oncologists, patient groups, and insurance companies criticized the cost of $30,000 a month or more, which could reach a total of $126,000 during a course of treatment.
References
External links
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{{Portal bar , Medicine
Mammalian dihydrofolate reductase inhibitors
Pteridines
Antifolates
Propargyl compounds
SRI International