TSX Venture: QPT
EDMONTON, April 8, 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 recently signed an exclusive license agreement with University of California at Los Angeles to develop and market anti-PSA IgE technology for the treatment of cancer.
The technology was developed by Professor Manuel Penichet and Dr. Tracy Daniels-Wells in collaboration with Dr. Christopher Nicodemus among others. It covers the use of immunotherapeutic IgE in development for treatment of patients with malignancies expressing the tumor-associated antigen PSA, which is associated with prostate cancer.
Dr. Tracy Daniels-Wells will present promising preclinical results obtained with the anti-PSA monoclonal IgE as a novel therapy for prostate cancer in the upcoming AACR meeting in Washington D.C. on April 9, 2013. The data demonstrate the potential ability of the novel molecule to selectively open the circulation which may improve the ability of cytotoxic therapy to reach cancers. At the same time, the antibody can activate specific cellular immune responses directed against PSA originating in the tumor. The presentation includes a demonstration of antitumor activity in a PSA expressing tumor mouse model.
Quest is focusing its commercial efforts in the area of antibody mediated cancer immunotherapy with both IgG and IgE products. Quest holds numerous patents for the use of tumor associated monoclonal antibodies as immune modulators. “Both IgG and IgE technologies are complementary and provide a novel approach for enhancing the effectiveness of chemotherapy while activating specific immunity to fight the cancer” commented Dr. Madi R. Madiyalakan, CEO of the Company.
The licensed technology platform includes three pending patent applications. Under the license agreement, Quest is obligated to make an upfront fee, milestone and royalty payments to UCLA on future revenues.
About Quest PharmaTech Inc.
Quest PharmaTech is a publicly traded; Canadian based clinical stage company developing a portfolio of product candidates for the treatment of cancer by combining immunotherapeutic antibodies with chemotherapy, immune-adjuvants and photodynamic therapy. Quest has a body of clinical experience and a new appreciation of the obstacles and potential of combinatorial immunotherapeutic approaches to cancer by using either immunoglobulin G or E as immune modulators to enhance tumor specific immunity and clinical outcome.
The most advanced of its product candidates is oregovomab, an anti-CA125 monoclonal antibody, in combination with front-line chemotherapy for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer which is currently undergoing a phase IIb clinical trial in 12 centers in Italy and the U.S. The Company’s MUC1 program that has already undergone a phase I clinical trial has the potential to permit tumor specific immunization in more than 70% of all cancers that kill. Quest is also conducting a phase I clinical trial for the treatment of prostate cancer, with its photosensitizer, SL052.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
SOURCE Quest PharmaTech Inc.
