Endostatin,Endostar & coming a potent fragment of the molecules

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http://giving.childrenshospital.org/cmresources/pdfs/frontiers_winter_2006.pdf

Angiogenesis Research

A Second Life for Endostatin

In this article one of the main point is the finding that only a small portion of Endostatin molecule is the active anticancer agent as described in this extract:

Chapter Four: Hope

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Endostar offers hope for cancer patients worldwide and has immediate implications for people like Scott Toner, an adult patient who is alive today because of endostatin. Five yearsago, Toner was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which is almost universally fatal. Endostatin restored his health:

He even ran the Boston Marathon in 2002 and 2003. But in August 2005, U.S. supplies of endostatin ran out, leaving Toner and other long-time endostatin patients at risk of relapse. While Dr.Folkman seeks FDA approval to obtain Endostar for patients like Toner, he also points to a positive development closer to home. In May 2005, Kashi Javaherian, PhD, and Robert Tjin Tham Sjin, PhD, both in Dr. Folkman’s lab, reported that a small portion of the endostatin molecule is responsible for the entire compound’s anti-tumor activity. This small section– a peptide at the front end of the molecule with 27 amino acids – is easier and cheaper to manufacture than the complex whole, and Children’s is planning to develop it commercially. This snippet of endostatin may lead to the next victory in the war against cancer.

Endostatin is natural endogenous molecule . Man made Endostatin is acting as an antiangiogenic drug when administered to cancer patients. Difficulties in manufacturing & in maintaining continuous high blood levels stopped its development in phase 2 trials in the US.
Chinese scientists modified Endostatin into Endostar which is approved in China.
There are attemps made to get Endostar approved in the US (not just on a compassionate basis as above but for general use).