Cancer Therapy-Induced Diarrhea (CTID)
Worldwide, 13 million people will be diagnosed with cancer in 2010. Of those, 80 percent may experience CTID, with 14 percent experiencing moderate to severe cases.
The therapeutic agents used to treat cancer often damage untargeted organ systems and flood the GI track with inflammatory agents causing debilitating side effects such as diarrhea. Patients experiencing severe diarrhea are then unable to retain the necessary nutrients their body needs to function properly, resulting in dehydration, malnutrition and other instabilities. This chain reaction ultimately hinders the therapy’s ability to treat the cancer at an optimal level, potentially nullifying the treatment altogether. Salient’s goal is to prevent or minimize these diarrhea side effects, allowing the patient’s cancer therapy to work at its full potential and improving the patient’s quality of life overall.
Salient is currently sponsoring a Phase II clinical trial at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and other clinics across the country. The objective of the study it to demonstrate the efficacy of CASAD™ in preventing and/or treating CTID in metastatic colorectal patients being treated with irinotecan®. The foundation for this study was laid in 2006 and 2007 when the Company sponsored a study in cancer-bearing dogs suffering from intractable diarrhea. In that study, 65% of the dogs benefited from the treatment with resolution of diarrhea within 48-72 hours. The study was reported in the International Journal of Applied Research in Veterinary Medicine.
