From rxpgnews.com
A Novel Murine Monoclonal Antibody, 3G4 , Targets Phospholipids to Treat Cancer
By Akanksha, Pharmacology Correspondent
Mar 8, 2005, 14:43
Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc.announced today the publication of data in 'Clinical Cancer Research' demonstrating significant anti-tumor activity in various tumor models using the murine monoclonal antibody 3G4, an equivalent of the company's Tarvacin(TM), that recognizes anionic phospholipids exposed on the surface of tumor blood vessels. These studies were performed by researchers at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.
The article stated that treatment with 3G4 as a monotherapy inhibited the growth of various different tumors in mice. It reduced the growth by up to 75% in established human breast tumor models, up to 90% in a mouse fibrosarcoma model, and 50% in a human Hodgkin's tumor model.
"Our results demonstrate the targeting of phospholipids as a means to treat cancer," stated Dr. Philip Thorpe, Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas."The activity seen
in multiple solid tumor types in this study also confirms the Vascular Targeting approach as a broad spectrum treatment."
Peregrine has generated a chimeric 3G4 clinical candidate that it is developing under the trade name Tarvacin(TM). Peregrine recently received approval from the FDA for its murine monoclonal antibody Phase I study for the treatment of cancer. This murine monoclonal antibody, a novel anti-cancer agent, is part of Peregrine's Anti-Phospholipid Therapy platform, which binds directly to tumor blood vessels to inhibit tumor growth and development. The company plans on initiating patient enrollment in the approved Phase I study in the near term.
This murine monoclonal antibody is part of Peregrine's Anti-Phospholipid Therapy platform,which binds directly to tumor blood vessels to inhibit tumor growth and development. The said compound is a chimeric monoclonal antibody that binds to the phospholipid, phosphatidylserine. This murine monoclonal antibody was initially discovered by researchers at UT Southwestern, who have worked closely with Peregrine to explore the potential activity and safety of this murine monoclonal antibody as a treatment for cancer.
Peregrine has a sponsored research agreement with researchers at UT Southwestern to study the use of this murine monoclonal antibody and its parent antibody for the treatment of cancer and viral diseases. In addition, the researchers at UT Southwestern have also received grants to study the use of anti-phospholipid therapeutics for the treatment of viral infections and diseases. Peregrine is also collaborating with The Foundation Fighting Blindness to study APT constructs as well as Vascular Targeting Agents (VTAs) for the treatment of eye diseases.
Peregrine and its research collaborators have completed a number of pre-clinical animal experiments using this murine monoclonal antibody to study the safety and efficacy of the compound. In pre-clinical studies, the monoclonal antibody binds to tumor blood vessels and demonstrated significant anti-tumor activity in animal cancer models.
Enhanced tumor effects were observed when this murine monoclonal antibody was administered in conjunction with chemotherapy and radiation therapy. In addition, in data recently presented at the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR), 3G4, the parent antibody of Tarvacin(TM), was shown to reduce the growth of breast cancer tumors in animal models by 60% when given alone and by 93% when given in combination with the commonly used chemotherapy drug docetaxel.
These data, in combination with other data presented during the year, have heightened the company's excitement and commitment to this murine monoclonal antibody program.
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