EXTON, Pa., May 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Morphotek, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, today announced that it has two presentations on its lead monoclonal antibody product candidate, MORAb-003, as well as an oral presentation on its monoclonal antibody MORAb-009 at the 42nd annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) being held in Atlanta, Georgia. MORAb-003 is completing a Phase 1 clinical study at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in subjects with platinum resistant or refractory ovarian cancer and who were clinically determined to have metastatic, progressive disease upon entering the study. MORAb-009, the Company’s second therapeutic compound, is a monoclonal antibody in a Phase 1 clinical study in pancreatic cancer and other mesothelin-bearing tumors. MORAb-009 has shown significant preclinical activity as a single agent and in combination with chemotherapeutic agents in animal models of pancreatic and ovarian cancer.
On Sunday, June 4th, Dr. Jason Konner from Memorial Sloan Kettering, the principal investigator for MORAb-003, will present “Phase I Study of MORAb- 003, A Humanized Anti-Folate Receptor-Alpha Monoclonal Antibody, in Platinum Resistant Ovarian Cancer” during the Gynecologic Cancer Session from 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. This presentation will contain data from approximately 12 evaluable patients for safety. A percentage of those patients were also evaluable for secondary endpoints of efficacy by RECIST and CA125 biomarker responses and those data will also be included in the presentation.
On Monday, June 5th, Dr. Eric Routhier from Morphotek will present “MORAb- 003 Inhibits Folate-Driven Growth Mediated by the Human Folate Receptor Alpha,” during the Tumor Biology and Human Genetics Session from 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. This poster contains experimental data from preclinical studies regarding the ability of folate receptor alpha (FRA) over-expression to enhance cell growth in FRA null cell lines, which is reversible by treatment with the anti-FRA antibody, MORAb-003.
On Thursday, June 1st, Dr. Martin Phillips, Senior Vice President of Clinical Development of Morphotek, will present “MORAb-009, A Phase I Study in Patients with Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma and Other Mesothelin-Bearing Tumors” at the Pancreatic Cancer Research Team Symposium at 2 p.m. This discussion will include preclinical data on the role of mesothelin in tumorigenesis and preclinical models of anti-mesothelin mAb therapy in suppressing growth of mesothelin-bearing tumors in xenograft models and clinical trials. This group meeting focuses on the identification of new targets and pathways for the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer. Mesothelin has recently been shown to be a validated target involved in the majority of pancreatic cancers. Specific antibody targeting of mesothelin results in biological and immunological responses to tumors expressing this antigen. MORAb-009 is a mesothelin-specific antibody developed by Morphotek and is currently in clinical development at Johns Hopkins.
Morphotek, Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on the generation of proprietary proteins for product discovery and development. The Company has a validated and patented platform technology called morphogenics that rapidly enhances the natural process of genetic evolution within a targeted host to yield variants with novel, commercially important output traits. Morphotek markets an antibody development platform called Human MORPHODOMA(R) that employs morphogenics to yield fully human, high-affinity antibodies from high- titer hybridoma cells. The platform is also employed as a discovery tool to generate libraries of hybridomas yielding fully human antibodies for the diagnosis and treatment of human disease. Both platforms bypass the burdensome royalty stacking issues associated with recombinant antibody technologies. Internally, Morphotek employs its technologies to develop optimized therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of cancer, inflammatory and infectious diseases. For further information visit http://www.morphotek.com.
Contact:
Bob Radie, Chief Business Officer
Phone: 610-423-6180 or e-mail: info@morphotek.com
Morphotek, Inc.
CONTACT: Bob Radie, Chief Business Officer of Morphotek, Inc.,+1-610-423-6180, or info@morphotek.com
Web site: http://www.morphotek.com/
