• Novel compound PTX-100 shown to decrease multiple myeloma tumours, improve median survival times
• Data to be presented at American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting
Melbourne, Australia – 21 April 2015 – Prescient Therapeutics (ASX: PTX), a clinical stage oncology company, will announce today highly encouraging data from a pre-clinical trial of its novel compound PTX-100 (formerly known as GGTI-2418) in multiple myeloma at a prestigious US oncology conference.
The investigation was conducted by researchers from the Moffitt Cancer Center and will be presented to international oncologists at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA.
Moffitt scientists examined the effect of Prescient’s small molecule compound PTX-100, a GGT-1 inhibitor that targets one of the RAS signaling pathways, in a mouse model highly relevant to multiple myeloma.
They found the compound significantly decreased the percentage of multiple myeloma tumours within the bone and also offered a substantial improvement on mouse median survival times.
Further, PTX-100 was shown to sensitize multiple myeloma cells – which could potentially help to overcome problems of drug resistance to standard chemotherapies. Prescient Managing Director Dr Rob Crombie, said: “This data suggests that PTX-100 represents a promising new therapeutic approach to treating multiple myeloma and warrants further clinical investigation.”
“Further, it strongly supports the design and rationale of the Company’s upcoming clinical trials of PTX-100 in multiple myeloma patients who have developed resistance to bortezomib.” “We are planning to commence a Phase 1b/2 trial in multiple myeloma in the second half of 2015 at the Moffitt Cancer Center and look forward to exploiting the full potential of this highly promising compound.”
Dr Crombie said these results underpinned the Company’s plan to file an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for PTX-100 with the US Food Drug Administration (FDA).
Multiple myeloma is the second most common hematological cancer and has a particularly low survival rates with new treatments urgently needed.
Presentation Title: The geranylgeranyltransferase I inhibitor GGTI-2418 suppresses multiple myeloma malignancy in the 5TMG1 mouse model
Session Title: MAPK, EFGR and BTK Inhibitors Session Time: Monday, April 20, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm ET Abstract Number: 2065 Location: Section 29 Poster Board Number: 27
Abstracts of the poster presentation were available on AACR’s website at 4:30 pm Eastern US time on March 18. The full poster presentation will be available on AACR’s website on the day of the poster session on April 20 US time.
About Prescient Therapeutics
Prescient Therapeutics is a clinical stage oncology company developing novel compounds that show great promise as potential new therapies to treat a range of cancers that have become resistant to front line chemotherapy.
Lead drug candidate PTX-200 inhibits an important tumor survival pathway known as AKT, which plays a key role in the development of many cancers, including breast and ovarian cancer, as well as leukaemia. This highly promising compound is now the focus of two current clinical trials. The first is a Phase 1b/2 study of PTX-200 in breast cancer patients at the prestigious Montefiore Cancer Center in New York. The second is also a Phase 1b/2 trial in patients with recurrent or persistent platinum resistant ovarian cancer at Florida’s Lee Moffitt Cancer Center. In addition, Prescient is planning a Phase 1b/2 trial evaluating PTX-200 as a new therapy for acute myeloid leukemia in 2015.
Prescient’s second novel drug candidate, PTX-100, is a first in class compound with the ability to block important cancer-causing proteins such as Ral and Rho, leading to apoptosis (death) of cancer cells. PTX-100 was well tolerated and achieved stable disease in a Phase 1 trial in advanced solid tumors. Prescient expects to commence Phase 1b/2 clinical trials in breast cancer and multiple myeloma in 2015. At the same time, Prescient plans to develop its novel p27 cancer biomarker as a companion diagnostic that will potentially identify those patients that are most likely to respond to PTX-100 therapy.
Prescient has licensed access to its Co-X-Gene™ platform technology to French biotechnology company Transgene for use in two immunotherapeutic products.
Further Inquiries:
Dr Robert Crombie
Managing Director
+61 (0) 439 361 331
Paul Hopper
Executive Director
+1 858-334-5820
Rudi Michaelson
Monsoon Communications
+61 (0) 3 9620 3333
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