TSX Venture: QPT
EDMONTON, Jan. 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ - Quest PharmaTech Inc. (TSX-V: QPT) (“Quest” or the “Company”), a pharmaceutical company developing and commercializing products for the treatment of cancer, announces that it has achieved 50% accrual having enrolled the 40th patient in its ongoing 80 patient Phase II Oregovomab front-line chemo-immunotherapy clinical trial in Italy and the U.S.
The objective of this study is to confirm that optimally dosed oregovomab in combination with standard front-line chemotherapy for advanced ovarian cancer will generate an improved immune and clinical response, as seen in preliminary phase II studies, and permit the best design of a definitive phase III program to follow. Currently, there are 8 clinical trial centers in Italy enrolling patients, with Professor Roberto Angioli at Policlinico Universitario Campus Bio-Medico Di Roma acting as the study chair. The Company is adding three additional centers in the U.S., to the two active U.S. sites, through the COGI (Cooperative Ovarian Cancer Group for Immunotherapy) clinical trials group, under the leadership of Professor Jonathan Berek at the Stanford Women’s Cancer Center, Stanford Cancer Institute.
“We are excited to reach the mid-point in patient enrollment for this pivotal 80 patient clinical trial”, said Madi R. Madiyalakan, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer for Quest. “With 13 centers currently participating in the trial, we are hopeful that we will achieve full patient enrollment within this year. This program not only is evaluating the latest concepts of combination chemo-immunotherapy for ovarian cancer, but is also providing critical data to facilitate the pending clinical development of additional cancer antibody immunotherapeutics within our technology pipeline.”
About Quest PharmaTech Inc.
Quest is a publicly traded, Alberta-based biotechnology company committed to the development and commercialization of oncology product candidates for the treatment of cancer by combining immunotherapeutic antibodies with chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy or immunoadjuvants.
Quest’s technology platform includes a series of monoclonal antibodies that target several cancer markers such as CA125, MUC1, PSA, CA19.9 and TAG72; and proprietary photosensitizers. Quest has body of clinical experience and a new appreciation of the obstacles and potential of combinatorial immunotherapeutic approaches to cancer. Quest believes that combinatorial immunotherapy, which exploits the immune modulating effects of selected cytotoxic agents normally used in standard chemotherapy regimens along with specific immune stimulants will lead to important commercial applications of this immunology platform in the treatment of cancer.
The most advanced of these product candidates is oregovomab, an anti-CA125 antibody in combination with front-line chemotherapy for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer which is currently undergoing a phase II clinical trial in 13 centers in Italy and the U.S. The Company’s MUC1 antibody program that has already undergone a phase I clinical trial has the potential to permit tumor specific immunization to a broad range of additional cancers, including colon, non small cell lung, breast and pancreas. Quest is also conducting a phase I clinical trial for the treatment of prostate cancer, with its photosensitizer, SL052.
About The Cooperative Ovarian Cancer Group for Immunotherapy (COGI)
The Cooperative Ovarian Cancer Group for Immunotherapy (COGI), based at Stanford University, is a consortium of ovarian cancer researchers from 22 leading academic medical centers throughout the United States and United Kingdom, including Stanford University, Harvard University, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Washington. This group was formed in 2004 to focus on the development of vaccines and innovative immunotherapies for ovarian cancer. COGI is led by the group’s principal investigator, Dr. Jonathan Berek, Professor and Chair, Stanford Women’s Cancer Center, Stanford Cancer Institute.
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SOURCE Quest PharmaTech Inc.
