Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals Announces $6 Million Financing To Further Advance Clinical Trials In Cancer Patients

Main Category: Clinical Trials / Drug Trials
Also Included In: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 22 Dec 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately-held pharmaceutical company focused on developing drugs in the emerging field of cancer bioenergetics, announced recently that it has raised a minimum of $6 million from a private investor group. The proceeds are to be primarily used for advancing its clinical trials in the US and Canada evaluating the safety and efficacy of its first-in-class bioenergetic Altered Energy Metabolism-Directed (AEMD) compound, CPI-613, in a variety of cancer types.

CPI-613 targets distinctive changes in energy metabolism that are associated with the vast majority of solid tumor types, as observed in non-clinical studies. CPI-613 has shown potential utility in multiple non-clinical studies including those conducted using human tumor biopsies from patients bearing lung, colon, pancreatic and breast tumors as well as cancer cell lines resistant to traditional chemotherapeutics. CPI-613 is the lead product candidate from Cornerstone's AEMD compound platform currently being studied in human clinical trials.

"Raising funds in a challenging market is a strong validation of the potential value of the bioenergetic approach to targeting cancer, and of Cornerstone's novel product candidates for cancer therapy," said Cliff Straub, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

The Company's AEMD platform is based upon research conducted by Drs. Bingham and Zachar who are both Cornerstone scientists and faculty members at Stony Brook University. Drs. Bingham and Zachar were recently honored with the Dr. Michael Maffetone Research Award in recognition of their important discoveries in the cancer field at this year's Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund's gala.

About Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals

Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is a privately held pharmaceutical company singularly focused on the discovery and development of innovative cancer therapies that exploit the metabolic pathways that are common to different cancer types but different from normal cells and tissues. This bioenergetic approach, i.e. understanding and addressing what is similar to multiple cancer types rather than the differences between each, offers a significant opportunity to make a profound impact on the clinical treatment of a variety of cancers.

Cornerstone is currently developing two distinct technology platforms that show strong specificity for cancer cells of multiple types:

* Altered Energy Metabolism-Directed (AEMD) small molecule drugs; and

* Emulsiphan, a cancer-selective nanotechnology-based delivery system

Cornerstone has offices and laboratory facilities in both Stony Brook, NY and Cranbury, NJ. For more information, please go to http://www.cornerstonepharma.com

Source:
David Polinsky
Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals Inc.