HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA – FEBRUARY 17th, 2010 -- Innovascreen announces today an agreement with Saint Mary’s University to option the rights to a library of novel dacarbazine analogs, a promising class of alkylating agents similar to temozolomide, a first line therapy for an aggressive type of brain tumour known as glioblastoma. The option provides Innovascreen the rights to screen the library for lead compounds and conduct preclinical validation studies to determine safety and efficacy.
“Innovascreen will be able to provide in vivo validation quickly and efficiently using the ASET Platform,” said Dr. John Lewis, President and CEO. “Using state of the art imaging technology we can capture a therapeutic’s effect on key physiological characteristics necessary for selecting compounds with the most potential.”
“Temozolomide is well tolerated, but efficacy is limited due to the activity of the patient’s enzyme, MGMT,” said Dr. Keith Vaughan, Principal Investigator in the Department of Chemistry at Saint Mary’s University. “There is room to find a similar compound that provides significant improvement in efficacy while maintaining safety. With Innovascreen we’ve identified the partner with the best chance to ensure the success of this novel compound library.”
The library contains approximately 200 analogs of dacarbazine created by Dr. Vaughan over his years of research. Under the option agreement, the ASET Platform will be used to focus the research on the most promising therapeutic candidates from the library and identify compounds for partnering with the best opportunity to continue into clinical trials.
About Innovascreen
With two platform technologies under management, Innovascreen is an ideal partner for an organization involved in early stage preclinical development of therapeutic candidates. The Avian System for Evaluating Therapeutics (ASET) Platform allows our clients and partners to screen compound libraries and validates lead candidates for further investment, faster, better and cheaper than other available options. Fusogenix is an advanced drug delivery platform with a unique mechanism of action that offers the chance to improve systemic delivery of therapeutic cargos. Innovascreen is a privately held company, headquartered in Nova Scotia, Canada. For more information, please visit www.innovascreen.com
