US-based Advanced Proteome Therapeutics has announced the achievement of an important milestone in its Cprogram with its collaborators by demonstrating that the first of a series of the company's site-specifically labeled protein conjugates binds tightly to specific tumor cells and concentrates in tumor tissue, when administered intravenously, in animals.
The company has also demonstrated that the protein itself retards the growth of established tumors in animals.
These results provide a basis for augmenting the protein's fundamental anti-cancer activity with additional entities, such as chemotherapeutics and/or other targeting entities.
In addition, initial studies indicate that the Company has discovered a novel method for substantially increasing the affinity of the protein toward such cancer cells, with potential for yielding superior, first in its class, anti-cancer therapeutics.
The company's technology is based on a proprietary platform that can be used to attach known therapeutic entities to specific sites on proteins.
The attachments are designed, in the present instance, to enhance the properties of this protein which is targeted for cancer cells and endow it with additional therapeutic functions.
The basis of APC's technology is what the Company regards as the Foundation Trinity: consisting of not only targeted therapy and combination therapy, but homogeneous therapy as well.
Homogeneity originates from the utilization of this protein not only as a delivery system, but also as a scaffold upon which to attach each anti-cancer entity to the same specific site on the protein.
This property is key to efficient manufacturing and product development. The latter feature differentiates APC from its competitors and affords competitive advantages in homogeneously producing single agents bearing multiple therapies that meet the industrial gold standard of purity.
Advanced Proteome Therapeutics president and CEO Dr Alexander Krantz noted the current results are important milestones for the company in that they provide a basis for generating a number of potential drug candidates that are protein conjugates of high purity and high potency.
"These types of drug candidates are essentially what the Company anticipated in embarking on the Foundation Trinity technology that we announced earlier this year. The current results validate the notion that the protein can retard tumor growth by conventional administration in animals.
The initial results of enhancing the protein's affinity by novel methods that the Company has developed, would appear to provide substantial scope for our efforts in producing superior anti-cancer therapeutics," Dr Krantz added.