Phase I Trials for Eye Cancer

So far, Dr. Murphree and his team have proven the cup works in animals and are designing a Phase I trial for children suffering from the rare eye cancer.


"It is my goal to find the right dose of chemotherapy to administer and prove that the eye cup can be tolerated," he says.

His study will be conducted both in The Vision Center in Los Angeles and at TongRen Hopsital, a premiere eye hospital in Beijing, China. Dr. Murphree selected Beijing as a trial site because the high concentration of patients. The hospital sees more than 200 cases of retinoblastoma in children each year, as opposed to the 250 children treated at various centers throughout all of the U.S. Clinical trials are expected to start in 2010.

"This week, I'm going to Bejing to visit TongRen Hopsital, to see the facilities, oversee the hospital's trial plan, and see how patients are treated," he tells DOTmed News.

3T Ophthalmics

Dr. Murphree developed the cup with Brazilian doctor, Ricardo Carvalho, M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Carvalho has started a company called 3T Ophthalmics, devoted solely to developing the eye cup. Dr. Murphree says he is not involved in the company, but holds a patent on the device.

He concludes, "I believe the eye cup represents a paradigm shift in the way physicians will deliver drugs to all organ systems in the future. The implantation of this kind of device on any organ and the ability to deliver medication to the affected organ, could be a huge advance in how we currently treat cancer and other diseases."

Source: Childrens Hospital, Los Angeles.

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