GHENT, BELGIUM--(Marketwire - April 04, 2012) - Ablynx (Euronext Brussels: ABLX) today noted
that
a paper on a novel tetrameric Nanobody(®) agonist (TAS266)
targeting Death
Receptor 5 (DR5), a key receptor target on cancer cells across a
number of
tumour types, was presented at the American Association for Cancer
Research
Annual Meeting in Chicago, USA, on 3 April 2012 by Novartis. The
ability of
TAS266 to efficiently 'cross-link' DR5 receptor targets, apparently
not
achievable with conventional monoclonal antibodies, results in the
controlled
death of cancer cells.
The paper was presented by Dr Heather Huet from Novartis and the
authors
included three scientists from Ablynx.
The abstract summarizes the results of the pre-clinical in vitro and in
vivo
studies of a tetravalent anti-DR5 Nanobody in an oncology setting.
TAS266 was
shown to elicit sustained tumour regressions in multiple tumour
xenograft
models, including a patient-derived primary pancreatic tumour model
that is
insensitive to a conventional anti-DR5 agonist antibody. Also, compared to
some
of the other therapeutic agonists against DR5 that have been developed and
that
have been clinically evaluated, TAS266 proved to be up to 1000-fold more
potent
in tumour cell death assays.
In view of this, the authors of the abstract conclude that "TAS266
has the
potential for superior clinical activity in settings insensitive to
the
conventional therapeutic approaches to DR5."
The abstract further states that "first-in-man trials for TAS266 are
expected to
begin in 2012."
Link to the presentation abstract: "TAS266, a novel tetrameric Nanobody
agonist
targeting death receptor 5 (DR5), elicits superior anti-tumour efficacy
than
conventional DR5-targeted approaches."
Commenting on today's announcement, Dr Edwin Moses, Chairman and CEO of
Ablynx,
said:
"Being present on cancer cells across a broad range of tumour types,
DR5 has
been the target of numerous conventional antibody approaches, but none
have
apparently been successful so far, possibly because of the need for
secondary
'cross-linking' to achieve the required activity. The ability to
produce
tetravalent Nanobodies appears to allow more efficient 'cross-linking'
(in the
tumour micro-environment) and so potentially opens up a new pathway
for the
treatment of certain cancers."
About Ablynx
Ablynx is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and
development
of Nanobodies(®), a novel class of therapeutic proteins based on
single-domain
antibody fragments, for a range of serious and life-threatening human
diseases,
including inflammation, haematology, oncology and pulmonary disease.
Today, the
Company has over 25 programmes in the pipeline and seven Nanobodies at
clinical
development stage. Ablynx has ongoing research collaborations and
significant
partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies, including
Boehringer
Ingelheim, Merck Serono and Novartis. The Company is headquartered in
Ghent,
Belgium. More information can be found on www.ablynx.com.
Complete version of the press release:
http://hugin.info/137912/R/1599977/504947.pdf
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Source: Ablynx via Thomson Reuters ONE
[HUG#1599977]
