Israel OKs testing of new melanoma treatment

South San Francisco, Calif. - Israel’s Ministry of Health has granted approval for biopharmaceutical firm Pain Therapeutics Inc., based here, to begin human testing of a new treatment for metastatic melanoma.

Internet news source MedicalNewsToday.com reports that Pain Therapeutics’ phase 1 study will evaluate the pharmacokinetics of a proprietary radio-labeled monoclonal antibody in patients diagnosed with metastatic melanoma. The company expects to initiate this first-in-human phase 1 study in a limited number of patients in the second quarter of this year at several academic medical centers in Israel.