Rose Bengal, a cheap industrial chemical that turns yarn and food bright red,
has been used as a diagnostic staining agent for some time. Now, some
scientists are looking at its potential to fight various forms of
cancer. Final results from an ongoing 225-patient melanoma trial of the experimental drug compared to
chemotherapy are expected in early 2018. The hope is that the drug,
known as PV-10, will prevent melanoma from progressing beyond Stage III,
in which the disease has spread but not yet to other organs, and allow
patients with more advanced cancer to live longer.
“This is one of the really neat examples of what we call repurposing,
taking drugs that been around for years … and suddenly realizing that
they may have an oncologic value,” said Dr. Vernon Sondak, head of
cutaneous oncology at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida.
While some doctors are encouraged by the research, government approval
is years off and not guaranteed. The company must replicate its early
results on a bigger scale, and a U.S. Food and Drug Administration
decision is not expected before 2019.
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