One of the most promising areas of cancer treatment today is also among the most perplexing.  A new class of anti-cancer drugs works by interfering with the formation of microvessels that deliver blood to the tumor mass.  This starves tumor cells of oxygen and nutrients, interferes with the elimination of cellular wastes, shuts-down routes of tumor metastasis, and potentially aids in the delivery of other types of anti-cancer drugs to the tumor mass. 

The problem is that the new drugs – called anti-angiogenesis drugs – work for only a small percentage of patients.  Moreover, they can cause serious side effects in some patients and they are extremely expensive – well over $100,000 per year of treatment.  Anti-angiogenesis drugs are being used more and more frequently in a widening range of cancer types and so the cost to the healthcare system and to individual patients who must pay for insurance co-payments threatens to be staggering.  In fact, several new drugs have now shown anti-angiogenesis activity and these are being combined with standard drugs and with other targeted drugs to produce the maximum therapeutic benefit.  The race is on, therefore, to develop tests that can show which patients could benefit from anti-angiogenesis therapy, which anti-angiogenesis drugs are best for which patients, and which other drugs should be administered concurrently in order to achieve the best result for each patient.  

The Weisenthal Cancer Group AngioRx™ microvascular viability assay is the only laboratory test known which identifies anti-angiogenic drug activity in live tumor microclusters.  It is also the only test capable of discriminating anti-tumor effect from anti-angiogenic effect in the same mixed-cell population.  It is also the only known technology which discriminates the effects of different types of anti-angiogenic drugs within the same class of drugs and within different classes of drugs.  It is also the only known test which is capable of identifying synergistic effects among different angiogenic and non-angiogenic drugs in specific drug combinations.