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Xerion Pharmaceuticals AG and Stemline Therapeutics Announce Collaboration on Cancer Stem Cells

10 Jun 2004 - Munich and New York. Xerion Pharmaceuticals AG and Stemline Therapeutics, Inc. have entered into a collaborative agreement under which the two privately-held companies plan to identify novel protein targets expressed on cancer stem cells. Under the terms of the agreement, Xerion will apply its Xstream® technology to Stemline's proprietary cancer stem cell platform (Stem- Screen(TM)) to identify novel and druggable oncology targets. The companies will share equally and have the option to co-develop any targets arising from this collaboration.
 
Xerion's Xstream® technology has been applied to human cancer cells and has successfully generated a number of cancer-relevant targets. This has led to the development of fully human antibody therapeutics against some of these targets. Stemline, together with its collaborator Dr. Malcolm Moore of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, who previously led the team that discovered human G-CSF (later, Neupogen ®), have built a proprietary and comprehensive cancer stem cell platform. Cancer stem cells are a highly virulent subpopulation of tumors important in the development and persistence of malignancy.
 
"We are excited about applying our Xstream® technology to Stemline's platform" said Markus Ewert, Ph.D., President and CEO of Xerion. "We believe that screening against cancer stem cells will enable us to find new, druggable targets for cancer. We look forward to working with Stemline, a leader of this rapidly emerging cancer stem cell space".
 
"Stemline is especially pleased to have integrated its cancer stem cell platform with Xerion's robust and validated Xstream® technology", explained Ivan Bergstein, M.D, CEO of Stemline. "We expect that this landmark collaboration will lead to the identification of important oncology targets and the development of the first pipeline of drug candidates that target cancer stem cells".