Ascenta Therapeutics Inc. AT-101 Clinical Trial Data Presented At The AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference On Molecular Targets And Cancer Therapeutics In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Ascenta Therapeutics Inc., a privately-held clinical stage biopharmaceutical company today announced the presentation of its lead clinical candidate program at the International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Philadelphia, PA, jointly held by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC).

Ascenta’s lead compound AT-101, is the only orally bioavailable pan-Bcl-2 inhibitor, currently under clinical investigation. With inhibitory activity against Bcl-2 family proteins Bcl-2, Bcl-XL and Mcl-1, AT-101 acts to induce the death of cancer cells, which commonly rely on these proteins to survive.

Ascenta presented results of the 29 patient study which involved patients with a range of different tumor types, all of whom had been previously treated with conventional therapies. This study demonstrated once daily dosing of AT-101 is achievable at up to 40 mg/day, and that toxicity was manageable in patients with advanced cancer.

“AT-101 demonstrated manageable toxicity and early evidence of clinical activity in the Phase I trial,” said Dr. Jon Holmlund, Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Development at Ascenta. “These results support additional studies of AT-101 as a single agent or in combination with standard therapies, and a Phase II program has been initiated.”

Founded in 2003, Ascenta is a privately-held biopharmaceutical company that discovers and develops targeted new medicines for the treatment of cancer. The company has offices in San Diego, California and a preclinical research facility in Shanghai, China. Its technology is focused on discovering molecules that hit vulnerable targets in endogenous apoptosis pathways and shut down cell growth and proliferation in cancer cells. Ascenta’s broad pipeline of compounds is licensed from both the National Institutes of Health and the laboratory of Dr. Shaomeng Wang at the University of Michigan.

Ascenta Therapeutics Inc.

CONTACT: Mark Benedyk, PhD, Vice President, Business Development andIntellectual Property of Ascenta Therapeutics Inc., +1-858-436-1200,mbenedyk@ascenta.com

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