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Nature Biotechnology 26, 1213–1215 (1 November 2008) | doi:10.1038/nbt1108-1213

Breaching the barrier

Alan Dove

The successful completion of a phase 1 trial of an experimental drug provides little hint of the prospects for final approval. Thus, when Boston, Massachusetts–based startup TransMolecular announced in recent weeks that it had completed a phase 1 trial of its radiolabeled synthetic analog of the scorpion venom peptide chlorotoxin (131I-TM601) for the treatment of adults with recurrent malignant glioma and was initiating dosing for a phase 1/2 trial, the news barely registered.