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Pharminox signs option to in-license novel telomere signalling targeted agents from Cancer Research Technology

21 Apr 2006 - Pharminox Limited announced that it has signed a new agreement with Cancer Research Technology Limited (CRT) to secure rights to a preclinical oncology programme focused on telomere signalling targeted agents (TSTAs). The programme has come out of research by Professor Malcolm Stevens OBE, Director of the Cancer Research UK Experimental Cancer Chemotherapy group at the University of Nottingham, who is also Chief Scientific Officer of Pharminox.
 
Under the terms of the agreement, CRT has granted Pharminox an exclusive 12-month option to in-license exclusive worldwide development and commercialisation rights to the programme. A lead candidate, RHPS4, has already been selected and is expected to move into formal preclinical development within the next 12 months.
 
Mechanistic studies with RHPS4 suggest that it exerts its activity primarily by disrupting the function of the telomere, the single-stranded piece of DNA at the end of chromosomes. RHPS4 is also a potent inhibitor of telomerase, an enzyme whose role is to maintain telomere length in order to prevent cells entering apoptosis. Telomerase is known to be highly up-regulated in 90% of all cancer cells.
 
RHPS4 has shown potent anti-tumour activity against a range of common human tumours in in vitro and in vivo testing. In xenograft models, it has shown tumour growth inhibition of up to 90% relative to control when given as a single agent. In a combination study with the marketed anti-cancer agent paclitaxel (Taxoltm) in a uterine tumour model, it produced complete and rapid eradication of the tumours with no observable re-growth throughout the remainder of the study. Paclitaxel given as a single agent in a separate arm of the same study achieved good tumour growth inhibition but no tumour regression.