Marshall Edwards Announces Publication Of Pre-Clinical Studies In Pancreatic Cancer

Main Category: Pancreatic Cancer
Also Included In: Clinical Trials / Drug Trials
Article Date: 29 Jun 2011 - 1:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

Marshall Edwards, Inc. (Nasdaq: MSHL), an oncology company focused on the clinical development of novel therapeutics targeting cancer metabolism, announced today the publication of results from pre-clinical studies of Triphendiol, a prodrug of the Company's lead drug candidate NV-143, that demonstrate its anti-proliferative activity in pancreatic cancer as both a monotherapy and as a chemosensitizer. The publication is now available on the Anti-Cancer Drugs website and scheduled to print in the August issue of the journal.

The studies, conducted in collaboration with lead author Ewan Tytler, Ph.D., at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical Center and the Yale University School of Medicine, detail the in vitro activity of Triphendiol in pancreatic cancer cells as well as its in vivo activity in animal models of pancreatic cancer. In addition, both studies show that pre-treatment with Triphendiol enhances the cytotoxic effect of gemcitabine, the standard-of-care chemotherapy currently used to treat advanced pancreatic cancer. An abstract of the publication, entitled "Triphendiol (NV-196), Development of a Novel Therapy for Pancreatic Cancer,".

In previous laboratory studies, Triphendiol demonstrated anti-cancer activity against a broad range of tumor cell lines, including breast, colorectal and ovarian. Once administered, Triphendiol is converted in vivo into an active metabolite called NV-143. In addition to being more active than Triphendiol as a single agent, NV-143 appears to be superior in its ability to synergize with chemotherapy in pre-clinical studies. Marshall Edwards has completed the required pre-clinical studies of NV-143 necessary to complete an Investigational New Drug application, which it plans to submit to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration next month.

"These studies add to our growing collection of data regarding the activity of our compounds and their potential ability to enhance the effects of current treatments," said Robert D. Mass, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Marshall Edwards. "These data further support the clinical development strategy for our lead candidate NV-143, the primary metabolite of Triphendiol, in combination with standard-of-care chemotherapy, while expanding the potential drug combinations we can consider in our randomized Phase II clinical trials."

Source: Marshall Edwards, Inc

• Additional
• References
• Citations