FREMONT, Calif., June 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Quark Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a development-stage pharmaceutical company discovering and developing novel RNA interference (RNAi)-based therapeutics, today announced it will participate in the Cambridge Healthcare Institute’s 9th Annual Beyond Genome Conference on June 8-11, 2008 at The Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco, CA.
Elena Feinstein, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Quark Pharmaceuticals will be presenting a lecture, “Temporary Inhibition of p53 of siRNA for Prevention of Acute Renal Failure: From Concept to Clinical Trials,” at 1:50 PM (PT) on June 11, 2008.
Dr. Feinstein’s lecture will discuss AKIi-5 and Quark’s proprietary concept of temporarily inhibiting p53 as a systemic therapy to prevent the development of acute kidney injury (AKI) in response to ischemia-reperfusion stress. Following a successful preclinical program focused on safety, AKIi-5 is currently in Phase I clinical trials and represents the first ever systemic dosing of an siRNA in humans.
Dr. Swetlana Boldin-Adamsky, Project Director of Quark, will give a poster presentation, “Non-invasive Aerosol siRNA Delivery for the Treatment of Lung Tumors.” The poster will discuss direct delivery of siRNA to the respiratory system by inhalation, a potential delivery method for various disorders, including lung cancer. Remarkably, the anti-cancer siRNA target utilized in these studies was discovered using Quark’s proprietary BiFAR functional gene discovery platform. Targeting this gene for cancer treatment is covered by Quark’s intellectual property.
Dr. Feinstein stated, “We are excited to participate in this year’s Beyond Genome conference. We have successfully administered the first siRNA drug candidate systemically in humans with the initiation of our AKIi-5 Phase I clinical trial. This accomplishment and the inhalation-based delivery of siRNA to the respiratory system demonstrate the unique strengths of our siRNA program.”
For more information on the conference please visit: http://www.beyondgenome.com/
About Quark Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Quark Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a development-stage pharmaceutical company engaged in discovering and developing novel therapeutic RNAi drug candidates. Quark has a fully integrated drug development platform that spans therapeutic target identification to drug development. Quark’s RNAi technology includes novel siRNA structures and chemistry that the Company believes provide Quark with freedom to operate in the siRNA intellectual property arena, as well as the ability to deliver siRNA locally and systemically to organs including the eye, ear, kidney, lung, spinal cord and bone marrow.
Quark’s lead product, PF-4523655 (RTP801i-14), completing Phase I/IIa clinical trials, is a synthetic, chemically modified, siRNA molecule to temporarily inhibit the expression of Quark’s proprietary target gene RTP801. PF-4523655 is licensed to Pfizer on an exclusive worldwide basis. Quark expects its partner, Pfizer, to continue to progress PF-4523655 through Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of AMD and diabetic macular edema (DME). In addition, Quark’s current clinical pipeline includes AKIi-5, developed by Quark for the prevention of acute kidney injury (AKI) following major cardiac surgery, currently in Phase I/IIa clinical trials via systemic delivery. Based on publicly available information, Quark believes this was the first siRNA delivered systemically in a human clinical trial. The Company has licenses for AtuRNAi(TM) technology from Silence Therapeutics and additional RNAi intellectual property from Alnylam
Quark is headquartered in Fremont, California and operates research and development facilities in Boulder, Colorado and Ness-Ziona, Israel. Additional information is available at www.quarkpharma.com
CONTACT: Juliana Friedmann, Quark Pharmaceuticals, Inc., +972-89-30-5111,
jfriedman@quarkpharma.com; Investors, Stephanie Carrington,
+1-646-536-7017, scarrington@theruthgroup.com, Sara Ephraim, or
+1-646-536-7004 , sephraim@theruthgroup.com, or Media, Janine McCargo,
+1-646-536-7033, jmccargo@theruthgroup.com, all of The Ruth Group for Quark
Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Web site: http://www.quarkpharma.com/
http://www.beyondgenome.com//
