ALN-VSP Cancer Drug?

There is a new drug named ALN-VSP that apparently could be a big breakthrough for patients who have cancer.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced that it has initiated a Phase I human clinical trial of ALN-VSP to evaluate its safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics in patients with advanced cancers.

How does this new drug works? Can anyone explain to me how ALN-VSP helps patients who are suffering from cancer?

ALN-VSP triggers a rarely used defense mechanism in the body to silence cancerous genes. Whereas conventional drugs stop disease-causing proteins, ALN-VSP uses RNA interference (RNAi) therapy to stop cells from making proteins in the first place, a tactic that could work for just about any disease.

ALN-VSP is designed to target two genes critical in the growth and development of cancer: kinesin spindle protein, or KSP, required for tumor proliferation; and vascular endothelial growth factor, or VEGF, required for tumor growth. Pre-clinical data in mouse tumor model studies have demonstrated robust efficacy of ALN-VSP, including suppression of targeted genes, demonstration of an RNAi mechanism of action, tumor reduction, and extension of survival.

Alnylam plans to enroll an additional 36 patients in the ALN-VSP trial and increase the dosage, but the early results are good enough to suggest that it could be among the first RNAi therapies to hit the market.