Sometimes by design and sometimes not, certain actors are cast repeatedly in the same role or play the same character based on qualities such as race, gender, accent, individual characteristics, or previous roles. To use Hollywood-speak, they are “typecast” or “typed” — think Jason Statham as the no-nonsense action hero in a dark turtleneck, Angelina Jolie as a pouty femme fatale, Hugh Grant as a bumbling Brit charmer, Liam Neeson as a vengeful tough guy with a “particular set of skills,” Morgan Freeman as wisdom personified, Tom Cruise as an intense hotshot who runs a lot, and Ryan Reynolds as a try-too-hard, uber-annoying smart-ass etc. Reportedly, most actors dislike being typecast out of fear that it will limit their “range” or versatility, and subsequent career opportunities as a result.
The same is true of lead EpicentRx therapy, RRx-001 (nibrozetone), which at the start of its “career” was typecast or pigeonholed as a radiosensitizing anticancer agent only but has broken out since in a big way and made a splash across a broad range of other indications both alone and in combination with other therapies. These other indications include radioprotection, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiopulmonary diseases, and central nervous system (CNS) toxicity. Besides an ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial, REPLATINUM, for the treatment of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) with a platinum doublet, RRx-001 also “co-stars” in the Phase 2b clinical trial, KEVLARx, with cisplatin and intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) for the treatment of severe oral mucositis. It also “plays the lead” in an upcoming Phase 2 clinical trial at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland for the treatment of endometriosis.
By virtue of their molecular design, most therapeutics are targeted against one specific protein, and this almost always “typecasts” or pigeonholes their activity to one specific disease or condition. The reality, however, is that most diseases like cancer and neurodegenerative disorders are multifactorial and single-targeted therapies cannot, do not, and most likely will not ever adequately address them.
Enter RRx-001, whose role as a multitargeted therapy is, by design, to make several diseases or conditions i.e., “bad actors” like cancer, severe oral mucositis, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiopulmonary diseases, and endometriosis, exit stage left.