'Medical food' to treat cancer

On Sept. 23, xCures Inc., together with a confidential partner, announced their launch of a medical food clinical trial. This study, to be led by Dr. Jennifer R. Grandis, aims to characterize a highly engineered medical food formulation as a foundation or component for treatment of patients with advanced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Metastatic pancreatic cancer has an exceptionally low five-year survival rate, remaining relatively unresponsive to chemotherapy options. Recent data suggest that specific components in certain foods may play a role in tumor growth. This trial aims to test a specific medical food formulation thought to benefit patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, and to examine its effect on specific blood measures and metabolic health over time.

Patients are enrolled through partnership with Cancer Commons. The prospective, open-label, nonrandomized trial leverages xCures' longitudinal registry (XCELSIOR) to aggregate data from patients across the country. This will be the first test of this medical food formulation in cancer patients and will evaluate it alongside standard-of-care chemotherapies. Since this trial is powered by xCures registry, patients do not need to switch doctors and can continue their typical treatment plan, just with the addition of the medical food formulation.

This study will evaluate the quality of life of patients regarding pain, energy levels, mood and digestion. Measures will include body weight and composition, blood serum chemistry, circulating tumor markers and impact of the diet on disease.

"We are excited to utilize xCures' longitudinal outcomes registry and biomedical expertise to evaluate this novel approach to the treatment of pancreatic cancer," stated Mika Newton, CEO of xCures.

"This investigation will ideally help to characterize this formulation as a foundation or component of future treatment regimens for pancreatic cancer," said Grandis, "and offer patients the opportunity to participate in a clinical trial."