ASCENT: Androgen Independent Prostate Cancer Study of Calcitriol Enhancing Taxotere

DN-101 is an investigational drug that has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It is a newly formulated pill that contains high amounts of calcitriol, a naturally occurring hormone and the biologically active form of vitamin D. Administration of DN-101 results in much higher blood levels of calcitriol than the body can produce from dietary vitamin D or vitamin D supplements. These higher levels of calcitriol are associated with anti-cancer effects in laboratory models of human cancer. Laboratory models also indicate that calcitriol has synergy with many commonly used chemotherapeutic agents used to treat cancer.

Calcitriol, at very low doses, is currently approved for use in patients with chronic kidney failure. DN-101 was specifically designed for cancer and contains 30 times the amount of calcitriol found in the calcitriol pill commercially available today. In order to take an amount of calcitriol equivalent to 1 DN-101 pill, cancer patients would need to swallow 30 pills of the approved, low dose formulation. DN-101 represents a breakthrough in the use of calcitriol in the clinic, because it contains high concentrations of calcitriol and makes it more feasible for patients to stay on regimen.