FUS1 is the name of an experimental lung cancer drug manufactured by Introgen that has performed well in early clinical trials

Introgen Therapeutics Inc. have announced that their experimental lung cancer drug has shown very promising results in a stage one clinical trial.

The drug is called FUS1 and according to the manufacturer it works by delivering a cancer suppressing gene into the tumors of stage IV lung cancer patients.

The company states that their clinical trial shows that for the first time, humans have the ability to inject a gene that has the ability to be taken up and expressed at a high level in cancer cells at distant sites of the body.

In the trial featuring 13 participants, no side affects were associated with taking the drug, which prolonged survival rates in patients by 7 extra months than those just receiving supportive therapy.

"We've treated 13 patients in this first-in-human study and we've seen an exciting proof of concept with no significant drug-related toxicity," says principal investigator Charles Lu, M.D., associate professor in M. D. Anderson's Department of Thoracic, Head and Neck Medical Oncology.

"As a clinician, I am very cautious about saying that we have shown clinical activity at this point. We have some encouraging data. The number of patients is too small to draw any definite conclusions, however," Lu said.

In the United States each year, more than 160,000 lives are lost to lung cancer, which is the number one cancer killer in the country.