Apexian Chief Scientific Officer Awarded $2.3 Million National Cancer Institute Grant

INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Apexian Pharmaceuticals’ Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Mark Kelley, has been awarded $2.3 million by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to research the effects of APX3330 on chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). CIPN affects many cancer patients, and can cause severe pain, loss of feeling, balance problems, muscle weakness and even paralysis or organ failure. The symptoms may continue years after treatment ends. Currently there is no effective treatment for CIPN.

Kelley’s research will focus on augmenting a DNA repair mechanism called APE1 to prevent or reverse CIPN using APX3330, a key molecule being used to treat solid tumors as part of a phase 1 clinical trial by Apexian Pharmaceuticals.

“Previous research has demonstrated APX3330’s effectiveness in protecting neurons and enhancing tumor-killing effects by itself or in combination with anticancer therapeutics; this could offer a win-win for preventing or treating CIPN,” said Dr. Kelley, Apexian’s Chief Scientific Officer and the Betty and Earl Herr Professor of Pediatric Oncology Research at the Indiana University Simon Cancer Center.

"We appreciate the National Cancer Institute’s support of Dr. Kelley’s research,” said Steve Carchedi, CEO of Apexian Pharmaceuticals. “In addition to acting on deadly forms of cancer involving the colon, pancreas, bladder, and brain, APX3330’s promise as a treatment for CIPN, for which there is currently no treatment, is very exciting.”

The grant Dr. Kelley received is part of the NCI’s “Provocative Questions Initiative,” which supports research designed to solve specific problems and paradoxes in cancer care that have not received sufficient attention. The funding will be awarded over five years.

About Apexian Pharmaceuticals
Apexian Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on safe and effective therapies for solid-state cancerous tumors. Please visit www.ApexianPharma.com for more information.

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