TSX Venture: QPT
EDMONTON, July 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - Quest PharmaTech Inc. (TSX-V: QPT)
("Quest" or the "Company"), a pharmaceutical company developing and
commercializing products for the treatment of cancer, announces that it
has hosted and completed a clinical investigators meeting in Rome,
Italy with all of the Italian investigators participating in the
ongoing, international Phase II oregovomab clinical trial for advanced
ovarian cancer patients. The clinical meeting provided a venue for all
of the investigators to share their clinical experiences and to resolve
any outstanding operational issues for the oregovomab clinical trial.
More than 15 patients have been enrolled in the 80 patient clinical
trial so far.
The current oregovomab clinical trial is a randomized, multicenter
international trial with 80 patients in Front-Line
Carboplatin-Paclitaxel Chemotherapy versus
Carboplatin-Paclitaxel-oregovomab Chemo immunotherapy to establish
evidence for the clinical benefit associated with enhanced specific T
cell immunity achievable by combining oregovomab with chemotherapy in
the initial treatment of advanced ovarian cancer.
There are currently eight centers in Italy that are participating in the
oregovomab clinical trial, with Professor Roberto Angioli at
Policlinico Universitario Campus Bio-Medico Di Roma acting as the study
chair. Of the eight centers, three are currently actively enrolling
patients while two other centers will soon be enrolling patients as
they have recently received the necessary regulatory approval. The
remaining three centers are in the final stages of receiving local
ethics committee approval.
"We are excited to be a major part of this international clinical trial
for oregovomab," said Prof. Angioli, "The ability to use combinatorial
immunotherapy to better mobilize anti-tumor immunity has the potential
to help ovarian cancer patients worldwide."
"With two more centers enrolling patients shortly and three other
centers ready soon, we are pleased with the progress of the trial in
Italy. We are continuing to add more centers in the U.S. to further
raise the profile of our product and to accelerate the enrollment
process", said Dr. Madi R. Madiyalakan, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer
for Quest.
About oregovomab
Quest PharmaTech is developing oregovomab, a high affinity monoclonal
antibody for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer. Oregovomab
targets the circulating tumour associated antigen CA125. The unique
mechanism of action of this treatment involves infusion of oregovomab
at immune stimulatory doses (2mg) that specifically bind circulating
and local CA125. The antibody-antigen complex is taken up by dendritic
cells that, after processing, present the antigen fragments to T-cells
via the MHC system. The robust CD4 and CD8 T-cell response that follows
has been shown to be associated with a survival advantage, especially
when administered in combination with chemotherapy.
About Quest PharmaTech Inc.
Quest is a publicly traded, Alberta-based biotechnology company
committed to the development and commercialization of oncology product
candidates. It is developing a series of products for the treatment of
cancer based on its pipeline of SonoLight compounds; and monoclonal
antibodies which target certain tumour antigens that are presented in a
variety of cancers. The Company has active collaborations with major
comprehensive cancer care centers, and international experts, to
further the growing understanding of how to use antibodies to make a
patient's own tumour markers become the patient's own vaccine.
Quest believes that combinatorial immunotherapy, which exploits the
immune modulating effects of selected cytotoxic agents normally used in
standard chemotherapy regimens along with specific immune stimulants
will lead to important commercial applications of the Company's
proprietary platform. Quest is currently conducting two carefully
planned, risk mitigating confirmatory clinical trials, not only to
validate the superiority of the combinatorial approach, but also to
design a definitive product registration study. The Company's MUC1
antibody program has the potential to permit tumour specific
immunization to a broad range of additional cancers, including colon,
non small cell lung, breast and pancreas.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as
that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange)
accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
SOURCE Quest PharmaTech Inc.