Currently no U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved therapy can reestablish lymphatic circulation after a patient develops lymphedema. Up to 10 million people in the United States and more than 100 million around the world have lymphedema.
A phase II clinical trial at Stanford University School of Medicine tested whether the drug ubenimex, a leukemia treatment used in Japan, can spur the growth of new lymphatic vessels for patients with secondary leg lymphedema. It was the “first pharmaceutical company-sponsored trial for a medical treatment of lymphedema.”
Although lymphedema is often characterized “as a plumbing problem,” Stanford researchers believe that the build up of lymph fluid is instead an inflammatory response within the tissue of the skin.
Primary lymphedema is hereditary. Secondary lymphedema results from damage to the lymphatic system from surgery, radiation therapy, trauma or infection.
However, the company, Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, announced in October that the trial was not successful:
… results in primary and secondary lymphedema of the lower limb demonstrated no improvement of ubenimex over placebo in the primary endpoint of skin thickness and secondary endpoints of limb volume and bioimpedance.
Improved lymph flow could also help in conditions other than lymphedema. Recent studies have implicated poor lymphatic drainage in glaucoma, rheumatoid arthritis, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, and other illnesses.
Although lymphedema is often characterized “as a plumbing problem,” Stanford researchers believe that the build up of lymph fluid is instead an inflammatory response within the tissue of the skin.
Lead Stanford researcher Stanley Rockson identified the anti-inflammatory drug ketoprofen as a tool help to relieve lymphedema symptoms.