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CuraGen and TopoTarget present new preclinical data on PXD101 in treating cancer

05-08-2006

CuraGen Corporation (CRGN) and TopoTarget A/S announced that new preclinical data on PXD101, a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor being investigated for the treatment of cancer, were presented at the 97th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

PXD101 is currently being evaluated in several Phase II and Phase Ib/II clinical trials for the treatment of multiple myeloma, T-cell lymphomas, ovarian cancer and colorectal cancer. Preclinical results on PXD101 were reported at AACR in two separate poster presentations.

Researchers from CuraGen and TopoTarget presented a poster entitled, "Activity of the HDAC Inhibitor, PXD101, in Preclinical Lung Cancer Studies." Preclinical results demonstrated that PXD101 potently inhibited the growth of numerous lung cancer cell lines in vitro, and reduced the growth of human lung cancer in animal xenografts.

When used in combination with erlotinib (Tarceva), PXD101 displayed synergistic growth-inhibitory activity in vitro and caused greater tumor growth inhibition than did the respective monotherapies in animal xenografts of human lung cancer. PXD101 decreased the expression of epidermal growth factor receptor family members EGFR and ErbB3, a finding that may help to explain the synergistic activity of PXD101 and erlotinib. PXD101 also demonstrated strong synergistic activity with pemetrexed (Alimta), an effect potentially related to down regulation of thymidylate synthase by PXD101.

In a second poster presentation entitled, "Plasma and Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) Pharmacokinetics of the Histone Deacetylase (HDAC) Inhibitor, PXD101, in Non-Human Primates," researchers from the NCI, CuraGen, and TopoTarget reported preclinical pharmacokinetic results. PXD101 displayed a half-life of approximately one hour with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) penetration by PXD101 of approximately 1%. These results suggest that the concentration of PXD101 achieved in the CSF may be sufficient to inhibit the growth of certain cancers.

"These preclinical studies continue to highlight the potential of PXD101, both as a single agent and in combination with currently used anti-cancer therapies," stated Dr. Frank M. Armstrong, president and chief executive officer of CuraGen. "As we continue to evaluate PXD101 for the treatment of multiple myeloma, T-cell lymphomas, ovarian and colorectal cancers, we look forward to the initiation of additional NCI-sponsored clinical trials throughout 2006 and reporting preliminary results from our studies beginning in mid-2006 and throughout 2007."

This article was prepared by Clinical Oncology Week editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2006, Clinical Oncology Week via NewsRx.com.