CRANBURY, N.J., March 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (http://www.cornerstonepharma.com), the private pharmaceutical company focused on therapies exploiting distinctive cancer cell metabolism announced that it has entered into a Collaboration Agreement with the United States National Cancer Institute ("NCI"). This collaboration calls for Cornerstone to apply its proprietary Emulsiphan cancer selective delivery nanotechnology platform to a class of agents developed at the NCI's Center for Cancer Research Nanobiology Program. These agents developed within the laboratory of renowned biologist Dr. Robert Blumenthal, can be turned into toxic compounds by targeted radiation and ultrasound. Cornerstone and NCI will evaluate the potential of these combined technologies in reducing tumors.
Dr. Yossef Raviv in Dr. Blumenthal's laboratory at the NCI discovered that a class of agents may become toxic when delivered to cancer cells and activated by an external energy source. The NCI and Cornerstone have agreed to collaborate to evaluate the combination of these agents with Emulsiphan.
Many approved drugs as well as newer cancer selective agents in use or in development today are difficult to solubilize and rely on diffusion after intravenous or oral administration to reach tumor cells. Often drugs may be metabolized and cleared from the body prior to reaching their target and as cells are distal from a tumor's vasculature, it is more difficult for a drug to reach a sufficient concentration to be useful. While technology continues to be evaluated for increasing the concentration of drugs in a tumor mass, some of these may actually inhibit the uptake of a drug into tumor cells. Cornerstone's Emulsiphan drug delivery technology aims to overcome these challenges so that increasing the required effective dose doesn't deliver treatment at the expense of risking a patient's safety.
Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a privately held pharmaceutical company singularly focused on the discovery and development of innovative cancer therapies that exploit the metabolic pathways that are common to different cancer types but different from normal cells and tissues. This unique approach, i.e. understanding and addressing what is similar to multiple cancer types rather than the differences between each, offers a significant opportunity to make a profound impact on the clinical treatment of a variety of cancers.
Cornerstone has offices and laboratory facilities in both Cranbury, NJ. and Stony Brook, NY. For further information, visit http://www.cornerstonepharma.com. To arrange an interview with Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals CEO Dr. Robert Shorr please call (212) 843-8073 or email amazur@rubensteinpr.com.
Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
