Alfacell Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company based in Bloomfield, New Jersey, which focuses mainly on the discovery, development and commercialization of ribonuclease therapeutics for cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

Onconase is a lead investigational drug candidate, is currently being evaluated in several studies, including a Phase IIIb registration study for unresectable malignant mesothelioma (UMM) and a Phase I / II dose ranging study in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Currently in clinical trials, the Onconase drug, manufactured by Alfacell Corporation, offers hope to patients with unresectable malignant mesothelioma. Developed from the eggs of an leopard frog, Onconase is a ribonuclease protein that is designed to enhance the anti-cancer effects of traditional chemotherapy, allowing lower doses to be effective and causing fewer adverse side effects.  Though Onconase works slowly, its lower toxicity levels mean no loss of hair, nausea, or anemia usually associated with standard chemo drugs.

Technically speaking, Onconase slows down cancer cell growth process by decaying RNA. Without certain RNA strands, the cancer cells cannot produce certain essential proteins and, therefore, cannot replicate. This serves to slow the growth of the tumor well.

While Phase III trials are currently underway, treating approximately 300 patients who have been stricken with inoperable malignant mesothelioma, the results of Phase II trials, released in 2002, demonstrated that ?the tumors either shrank or stopped growing in 41 of the 81 patients that were assessable for tumor response.?  The median survival of the patients who entered the trial without symptoms from the cancer was about 18.5 months.