Platinum-based treatment for cancer is rapidly gaining support in the medical profession as the number of products available on the market widens.

Access Pharmaceuticals is the latest to launch a platinate product - currently titled AP5346 - which is undergoing clinical trials and toxicology tests.

The firm says that AP5346 offers the potential to improve the anti-tumour activity and the toxicity profile of platinum compounds, making it easier for patients to accept the drug and for it to work effectively.

New clinical data from Gamelin et al in the Journal of Clinical Cancer Research suggests that it is oxalic acid, an essential component of oxaliplatin, which produces the neurotoxicity associated with some compounds. AP5346 does not contain oxalic acid, and preliminary studies suggest that this has made a big difference to the neurotoxicity of the treatment.

Access has now conducted a pre-Investigational New Drug Application (IND) meeting with the FDA and now plans to file an IND this quarter.

The use of platinum compounds for the treatment of cancer is continuing to grow, with worldwide sales in 2003 exceeding $2 billion.