Use of Cysteamine to Treat Metastatic Cancer

Cysteamine is an aminothiol and anti-oxidant that has potential for the treatment of radiation sickness, neurological disorders and cancer. Cysteamine has FDA approval for use in humans, and produces few side-effects as a natural degradation product of an essential amino acid. It is mostly used for treatment of cystinosis. The inventors on this technology have demonstrated that cysteamine also suppresses the activity of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Because MMPs have been implicated in tumor invasion and metastasis, cysteamine has potential as an effective therapeutic for metastatic cancer. Administration of cysteamine was able to reduce invasion and metastasis in mouse xenograft tumor models and prolong survival of the mice without significant adverse side effects. This suggests that cysteamine could represent a novel therapeutic agent for treatment of metastatic cancer.

Potential Commercial Applications:

• Therapeutic for metastatic cancer as monotherapy or combined with other drugs.

Competitive Advantages:

• Cysteamine does not produce adverse side-effects when administered to humans.
• Cysteamine has already been approved for use in humans, providing a clearer path to clinical approval.

Inventors:
Raj Puri
Bharatkumar Joshi

Intellectual Property:
US Application No. 14/256,687
CA Application No. 2,813,584
AU Application No. 2013205350
KR Application No. 10-2013-43713
MX Application No. MX/a/2013/004423

Publications:
Fujisawa T, et al. PMID 22532830

Licensing Contact:
Bill Ronnenberg, JD-MIP, MS
FDA Technology Transfer Program
10903 New Hampshire Ave.
Building WO1, Rm 4214
Silver Spring, MD 20993
Email: FDAInventionlicensing@fda.hhs.gov
Phone: 240-402-4561

OTT Reference No: E-2013-010
Updated: Jul 16, 2013