Enables PharmaGap to advance development of promising
anti-cancer drug
PHOENIX, Ariz. - June 18, 2010 - Predictive Biomarker Sciences Inc.
(PBS-Bio) has completed its first drug analysis, enabling Canadian
biotech company PharmaGap Inc. to significantly advance a
potentially significant anti-cancer medication.
PharmaGap is an early-stage biotech company based in Ottawa,
Ontario developing novel peptide compounds for cancer. Its lead
compound, GAP-107B8, exhibits potent cytotoxic characteristics
against cancer cells and has recently completed screening at the
National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., and was the subject of
a data poster by researchers at the Ottawa Hospital Research
Institute at the recent American Association for Cancer Research
meeting in Washington, D.C.
Proprietary real-time computer imaging technology from PBS-Bio has
been instrumental in assisting PharmaGap to determine the drug's
potential mechanism of action and thereby identifying suitable
cancers to target for eventual clinical use.
As part of its pre-clinical development program, PharmaGap hired
Phoenix-based PBS-Bio to analyze more specifically how the drug
worked. PBS-Bio is a privately held, for-profit corporation owned
in part by the non-profit Translational Genomics Research Institute
(TGen).
Data from the PBS-Bio analysis indicated that GAP-107B8 rapidly
compromises the outer membrane of colorectal cancer cells, leading
to either oncolytic or apoptotic cell death, while having
significantly less affect on non-cancerous cells.
Unlike many protein kinase inhibitor drugs now in development,
GAP-107B8 works within mere minutes through "an assault on the
plasma membrane," said Dr. Isabella Steffensen, a PharmaGap
pre-clinical development consultant. She said that GAP-107B8
appears to be reacting with surface receptors apparently more
prevalent on cancer cells than normal cells.
By providing PharmaGap with a more accurate analysis of how the
drug functioned, PBS-Bio saved the company months of research and
an estimated $400,000 in costs.
Moreover, the PBS-Bio data has assisted PharmaGap to expand the
scope of possible cancer targets for GAP-107B8, said Robert
McInnis, the company's President and Chief Executive Officer.
McInnis said PharmaGap is now also better positioned with GAP-107B8
to run clinical trials, anticipated in 2012, and expand the scope
of its intellectual property and business development
potential.
"Based on the insights gleaned from working with the PBS-Bio team
in Arizona, we have a much clearer idea of how this compound is
acting," McInnis said. "Overall, it was a very successful
collaboration. We certainly look forward to a continuing
relationship with PBS-Bio"
*
Like plugging a computer diagnostic into a running car engine,
PBS-Bio's technology uses live cancer cells to show pharmaceutical
companies how their drugs work, or don't work, said Dr. Michael
Bittner, Co-Director of TGen's Computational Biology
Division.
"For the first time, we can show - at the molecular level - exactly
how drugs will affect cancer cells in real-time, identifying
precisely along which cellular pathways drugs produce results, or
fail,'' said Dr. Bittner, who also is a Principal Investigator at
TGen for the PBS-Bio technology, and a Member of PBS-Bio's
Scientific Advisory Board.
"The success of targeted oncology drugs can vary from tumor to
tumor, and the range of the specific types of tumor molecular
pathologies that are susceptible or resistant to a given drug are
frequently unknown. The purpose of the PBS-Bio technology is to
make pre-clinical research more predictive of actual patient
outcomes," Dr. Bittner said.
The technology is expected to save pharmaceutical companies
millions of dollars in drug development costs, especially by
showing what drugs might not work, thereby avoiding costly clinical
trials, said Dr. Edward Smith, founder and CEO of PBS-Bio.
The technology also is expected to show which drugs might work
better in tandem with other drugs, thereby salvaging promising drug
lines that otherwise might be shelved, said Dr. Smith, who also is
an adjunct faculty member at TGen and at the University of Arizona
College of Medicine.
"Specifically, the TGen-PBS-Bio technology shows, in real time, how
drugs affect the genes and their signaling pathways within cells
that cause cancers to grow out of control," Dr. Smith said.
The hope is that by using this technology, drug companies will be
able to develop cancer drugs more quickly, and at lower costs,
while giving researchers a better idea of which patients will best
respond to the therapies, Dr. Smith said.
PBS-Bio is working with three large pharmaceutical companies on
projects to: determine which of several similar compounds to move
into clinical trials, identify which drugs to add to their
investigational drug to make it most effective, and identify
biomarker tests that will identify patients most likely to respond
to the new drug combination.
*
About PharmaGap Inc.
PharmaGap Inc. (TSX-V: GAP; OTC.BB: PHRGF), based in Ottawa,
Ontario, is a biotechnology company with a core focus on developing
novel peptide therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. For more
information please visit www.pharmagap.com.
Press contact:
Robert McInnis
PharmaGap President & CEO
613-990-9551
[email protected]
*
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. In
addition to Dr. Bittner, a biologist, and Dr. Smith, a medical
doctor, the TGen/PBS-Bio collaborative team includes Dr. Edward
Dougherty, an electrical engineer and the other Co-Director of
TGen's Computational Biology Division. 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. Ed Smith, M.D.
President and CEO
602-418-9300
[email protected]
*
About TGen
The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) is a Phoenix,
Arizona-based non-profit organization dedicated to conducting
groundbreaking research with life changing results. Research at
TGen is focused on helping patients with diseases such as cancer,
neurological disorders and diabetes. TGen is on the cutting edge of
translational research where investigators are able to unravel the
genetic components of common and complex diseases. Working with
collaborators in the scientific and medical communities, TGen
believes it can make a substantial contribution to the efficiency
and effectiveness of the translational process. TGen is affiliated
with the Van Andel Research Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
For more information, please visit: www.tgen.org.
Press Contact:
Steve Yozwiak
TGen Senior Science Writer
602-343-8704
[email protected]
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