ANTISENSE ATL1101 SUPPRESSES HUMAN PROSTATE TUMORS IN MICE
October 16th 2008 08:16
Wednesday October 15, 2008
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* ANTISENSE ATL1101 SUPPRESSES HUMAN PROSTATE TUMORS IN MICE
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ANTISENSE THERAPEUTICS
Antisense says ATL1101 for prostate cancer significantly suppressed the growth of the human tumors grafted into recipient mice.
Antisense said ATL1101 was a second generation antisense inhibitor of the insulin-like growth factor-I receptor (IGF-IR) which has shown potent activity in laboratory studies, including in human cancer cells.
The company said that in the collaborative study with the University of British Columbia through the Department of Urological Sciences’ Prof Martin Gleave ATL1101 or control drugs were injected into the bloodstream of the mice and tumor growth was monitored and compared between the treatment groups.
Antisense said ATL1101 injections significantly suppressed the growth of the human tumors and slowed their transition to the most dangerous form of prostate cancer, castration-resistant prostate cancer.
Prof Gleave said there was a compelling need for new therapeutic options in castration-resistant prostate cancer.
“The preclinical anticancer activity of ATL1101 in these mouse models of human prostate cancer is encouraging and justifies further evaluation as a potential treatment”, said Prof. Gleave.
Antisense research director Dr Christopher Wraight said the animal studies mimicked two aspects of the disease: the transition of prostate tumors to castrate-independence and the ability of tumors to grow despite androgen ablation therapy.
“Importantly, ATL1101 injection inhibited both aspects of tumor growth,” Dr Wraight said.
“To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of systemic efficacy in a prostate cancer model with an RNA-silencing IGF-I receptor drug,” Dr Wraight said. “Our study clearly shows that ATL1101 is an effective inhibitor of IGF-IR signaling in vivo and that its pharmacological mechanism is highly relevant in the control of prostate tumor growth.”
Antisense chief executive officer Mark Diamond said ATL1101 was “the only antisense drug targeting IGF-IR in development as a potential treatment for prostate cancer”.
“We now have positive animal efficacy data on ATL1101 as we have for ATL1103 for sight and growth disorders, which is progressing through pre-clinical toxicology studies prior to the initiation of planned human clinical trials next year,” Mr Diamond said.
“Our ability to successfully develop and commercialize our drugs is validated by our licencing of ATL1102 for multiple sclerosis to Teva Pharmaceuticals, a top 20 global pharmaceutical company, who are now continuing the drug’s development,” he said.
“The preclinical prostate cancer results from Prof Gleave’s laboratory provide compelling support for the continued development of ATL1101 as a cancer therapeutic,” he said.
Mr Diamond told Biotech Daily that 18 percent of American men were diagnosed with prostate cancer and three percent died from it.
Antisense said drugs targeting IGF-IR were being developed by several pharmaceutical companies, demonstrating the importance of the IGF-IR target in cancer. ATL1101 has a different mechanism to other IGF-IR drugs and is designed to block IGF-IR production and prevent it appearing on the surface of tumor cells. Other drugs bind to the molecule already on the surface of the cells.
ATL1101 benefits from the scientific validation of the biological target provided by other IGF-IR drugs in clinical development, but offers a novel mechanism of action and in turn, a potentially different treatment option or approach.
An abstract, entitled ‘Targeting IGF-IR with Antisense Oligonucleotides in Prostate Cancer’ will be released at the New York Academy of Sciences annual meeting of the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society, in Boston October 15-18, 2008.
The detailed study data will be presented in a poster session on October 17.
Antisense climbed 0.5 cents or 11.11 percent to five cents.
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