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- Posted Wednesday October 20, 2010
PBS-Bio works with 3 new firms to accelerate cancer drug development
Predictive Biomarker Sciences technology shows how drugs
function along cellular pathways
MESA, Ariz. - Oct. 20, 2010 - In an industry that faces increasing
challenges in delivering new drugs to patients, Predictive
Biomarker Sciences (PBS-Bio) today announced three new contracts
aimed at bringing new medicines to the marketplace.
PBS-Bio said it is helping more companies develop therapies against
a variety of cancers. Most new cancer drugs fail in late-stage
studies, and it can take as much as $1 billion and more than a
decade to bring the drugs to market.
To jump-start drug development, PBS-Bio's analysis helps
pharmaceutical companies better understand how their drugs work,
and identifies biomarkers that can help predict which patients will
respond to treatment.
PBS-Bio's three new pharmaceutical collaborators are:
- ENDECE, a Mequon, Wis., company that discovered and is developing a family of anti-cancer compounds, including their lead compound NDC-1308, which target molecular "bioswitches" that control metabolic pathways impacting cancer cell growth.
- Revalesio Corporation, a Tacoma, Wash., group developing novel therapeutic candidates containing "charged-stabilized nanostructures" to prevent inflammatory mediated diseases without inhibiting normal cellular functions.
- Unibioscreen, a Brussels, Belgium, firm that is developing a promising anti-cancer drug called UNBS1450 - currently in European clinical trials.
These three small pharmaceutical companies are in addition to four
collaborations in progress between PBS-Bio and four large pharma
groups, said Dr. Edward Smith, co-founder and CEO of PBS-Bio, which
is a privately held, Mesa-based for-profit corporation.
"We feel that we have reached critical momentum for the growth of
PBS-Bio," said Dr. Smith. "The pharmaceutical industry is failing
in their efforts to bring new cancer drugs to patients with only
two drugs approved in 2009, and only two so far this year. The
problems are empty pipelines, and outdated methods of drug
discovery and development. Pharmaceutical companies are now seeing
the value of the PBS-Bio dynamic technology to help bring more new
cancer drugs to market faster and cheaper."
In each case, connections to PBS-Bio were made through scientific
networks involving the Translational Genomics Research Institute
(TGen), a Phoenix-based biomedical research facility.
And in each case, PBS-Bio is providing drug companies with unique
real-time looks at how new therapeutics actually work over time
within cellular pathways - the so-called mechanisms of
action.
ENDECE
Rather than focusing on a single target or mutation, ENDECE's
approach is to identify key molecular switches that prevent tumors
from growing out of control.
"We previously identified a primary mechanism of action for how
NDC-1308 kills tumor cells. However, the PBS-Bio technology will
validate that mechanism and enable us to observe, in real time, the
temporal order of changes for components of the pathways that
control cancer cell growth," said James Yarger, President and CEO
of ENDECE. "In addition, we may obtain data showing the impact,
both positive and negative, of NDC-1308 on other cellular pathways.
With current technology, we have not been able to identify the
temporal order of events."
By working with PBS-Bio, Yarger said, his company also hopes to
determine which cancer patients might be the best candidates for
the drug and gain an understanding of what current cancer drugs, if
any, would be appropriate candidates for combination drug
therapies.
"Our bodies fight cancer cells every day, and in general our bodies
do it very, very well. However, the appearance of cancerous tumors
signifies uncontrolled cancer cell growth and proliferation. When
the body's control over some of these pathways are lost, the cancer
cells can grow out of control," Yarger said. "ENDECE's focus is on
novel therapies that enhance the body's natural control over cancer
cell growth."
Although initially focused on lung and pancreatic cancer, Yarger
said, "Our data supports the notion that NDC-1308 may control the
growth of many kinds of aggressively growing cancers. We hope to
further verify this data with PBS-Bio's technology."
Revalesio
Revalesio is targeting inflammation associated with various
inflammatory mediated diseases, including cancer, through the
creation of charged-stabilized nanostructures, or CSNs.
CSNs are aqueous based nano-bubble cores surrounded by an ionic
scaffolding stabilized with free energy. CSNs interact with cells,
specifically naïve immune cells, altering the surface of the cell
membrane and preventing unwanted downstream cellular activity that
causes inflammation.
"We're developing a new technology that has novel anti-inflammatory
effects applicable to a broad range of diseases," said Dr. Richard
Watson, Director of Revalesio's Clinical Science. This technology
is under development for the treatment of asthma, cardiovascular
disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's
disease, and other inflammatory mediated diseases.
"The charged-stabilized nanostructure is a platform from which we
can create a variety of products as combination therapies or
standalone therapeutics," Dr. Watson said. "Working with PBS-Bio,
we want to see how our technology alters cell-survival in a number
of different cancer lines, specifically looking at the connection
of specific signaling pathways to inflammatory processes and
proliferation signaling in oncology."
Unibioscreen
At hospitals in Belgium and the Netherlands, Unibioscreen has begun
phase 1 clinical trials - first in human tests - with a drug called
UNBS1450.
The drug is a hemi-synthetic derivative of a compound identified by
Unibioscreen in the root bark of an African plant called Calotropis
procera. Pre-clinical tests have shown that UNBS1450 is very
effective against various tumor types.
Unibioscreen CEO Christiane Verhaegen said the company wants to
further decipher the mechanism of action of this novel drug
candidate, in parallel with the ongoing clinical Phase I trial, to
optimize the dose and schedule for the further development
stages.
"This is a unique compound, that has shown to be very potent in
pre-clinical tests. It is crucial for us to do the biomarker work
with PBS-Bio, as this work helps us to get a more in-depth
understanding of the mechanism and to define the most effective
patient treatment," Verhaegen said.
*
About ENDECE LLC
ENDECE is a privately held, drug development company focused on
first-in-class therapeutics for cancer. ENDECE's core business
relies on the in-house rational design of new chemical entities
that control molecular "switches" which impact cancer cell growth.
The company plans to take its lead candidate into the clinic in
2011. ENDECE has filed multiple composition-of-matter and use
patents on its compounds. ENDECE is privately held and has raised
over $13 million dollars from private investors. Please visit:
www.endece.com.
Press Contact:
James Yarger, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer and President
1001 West Glen Oaks Lane
Suite 105B
Mequon, WI 53092
262-240-9690
[email protected]
*
About Revalesio
Revalesio Corporation is a biomedical development company dedicated
to restoring hope and transforming lives. Founded in 2000 and based
in Tacoma, Washington, the company is advancing an entirely new
class of therapeutics that disrupts inflammatory pathways and
protects cellular function. With leading research partners from
around the world, Revalesio is targeting neuro-inflammatory,
respiratory, cardiovascular and other inflammatory mediated
diseases. For more information about Revalesio, visit
www.revalesio.com.
Press Contact:
Bruce Buskirk
253-926-5567
[email protected]
*
About Unibioscreen
Unibioscreen is a private Belgian specialist oncology company
focused on innovative "first-in-class" oncology therapeutics.
Unibioscreen has successfully discovered, patented and developed a
drug candidate currently in clinical trials in cancer patients.
Unibioscreen built its competitive edge on exploiting through
hemi-synthesis the structure activity relationship (SAR) of natural
product chemistry and through development and use of unique
technologies and demanding orthotopic models of cancer. For more
information, visit: www.unibioscreen.com.
Press Contacts:
Christiane Verhaegen, CEO
+32 476 98 10 78
*
About PBS-Bio
Predictive Biomarker Sciences Inc. (PBS-Bio) is a privately held
corporation based in Mesa, Arizona, and founded in 2006 with
funding from private investors, mostly based in Arizona. It is
owned in part by the non-profit, Phoenix-based Translational
Genomics Research Institute (TGen). The PBS-Bio/TGen collaborative
team includes: Dr. Michael Bittner, a biologist, Co-Director of
TGen's Computational Biology Division, and Principal Investigator
at TGen for the PBS-Bio technology; Dr. Edward Dougherty, an
electrical engineer and the other Co-Director of TGen's
Computational Biology Division; and Dr. Edward Smith, a medical
doctor, an adjunct faculty member of TGen, and co-founder and CEO
of PBS-Bio. The three began their collaborations while working
under TGen President and Research Director Dr. Jeffrey Trent when
Dr. Trent was the Scientific Director of the National Human
Genomics Research Institute in Bethesda, Md. Their professional
relationships continued after TGen was founded in Phoenix in 2002.
For more information, please visit: pbs-bio.com.
Press Contact:
Dr. Edward Smith, M.D.
President and CEO
602-418-9300
[email protected]
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