Press Release
Procyon Demonstrates Progress on Anticancer Technologies at Annual Meeting of American Association for Cancer Research
(AACR)
MONTREAL, QUEBEC--Procyon BioPharma Inc. (``Procyon'') announced that results from preclinical studies on the
Company's proprietary anticancer platform technologies further validate the potential of Procyon platform technologies as
anti-cancer treatments. Data from the studies were presented recently at the annual meeting of the American Association for
Cancer Research (AACR) in New Orleans, LA.
``The results presented at the AACR meeting show how successful Procyon has been in taking concepts and developing them
into innovative therapeutics to take forward to the clinical trial stage,'' said Dr. Christopher Newman, Chief Scientific Officer and
Vice-President, Research & Development. ``These innovative therapeutics could offer new hope to cancer patients,'' he added.
Hans J. Mader, Procyon's President and CEO, indicated that the Company is planning to file an IND for its two anti-cancer
technology platforms later this year. He also emphasized that the relationships established between Procyon's scientists and
its external clinical development team will help to bring these therapeutics to market faster.
The results of Procyon's studies were presented at the AACR meeting in four poster presentations. The first, dealing with the
Company's Antinuclear Autoantibodies (ANA) platform technology, demonstrated for the first time, that vaccination of mice with
nucleosomes significantly inhibited tumour growth. The second poster presentation clearly indicated that Procyon has
developed a practical approach to protect ANA monoclonal antibodies (MAb) from inactivation in the body. The Company
believes these antibodies can be used to recognize and kill a broad range of cancers.
The third poster dealt with PSP94, the second of Procyon's core technologies. It presented preclinical results confirming that
recombinant PSP(94) has anti-cancer activity and reduces the growth of human prostate cancer in mice while the fourth poster,
dealing with studies on rat PSP(94), confirmed that this technology promotes the death of prostate cancer cells in rats and
combats the growth of tumours.
Procyon BioPharma Inc. is a publicly listed, biopharmaceutical Company focused principally on advancing two powerful
platform technologies that have the potential to diagnose and treat cancer. Procyon's non-pathogenic Antinuclear
Autoantibodies (ANAs) bind specifically to multiple cancer cell types strongly enhancing the immune response to cancer cells.
Prostate Secretory Protein PSP(94) is a naturally occurring human protein that has the potential to treat prostate cancer by
inhibiting abnormal prostate cell growth. In addition, the estimation of PSP(94) levels in prostate cancer patients may have
prognostic and diagnostic applications. Procyon also has two late-stage products: FIBROSTAT® and COLOPATH® a rapid,
non-invasive screening test for colorectal cancer.
Procyon's shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PBP.
Procyon BioPharma Inc.
Technical Backgrounder
Posters Presented
at the
Annual Meeting
of the
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
* The poster entitled "Anti-tumor effect of nucleosome vaccination in
syngeneic murine tumor models" presented preclinical results
showing that vaccination of mice with nucleosome (NS) preparations
produced sufficient levels of Antinuclear Autoantibodies (ANA) to
inhibit neoplastic cell growth in several tumor models. This is
the first time that an NS immunization has been reported to provide
significant inhibition of tumor growth. The effect of NS
vaccination on mice with pre-inoculated tumors was further tested
against metastatic and primary tumor burdens. Results showed a
significant reduction in tumor weight. These results demonstrate
that nucleosomes can serve as a basis for a broad spectrum of anti-
cancer vaccine and indicate the potential utility of nucleosome-
vaccination as an anti-tumor treatment modality against a broad
range of cancer types.
* The poster entitled "Negatively charged polymers protect anti-
cancer antibody against inactivation by acylating agents" presented
the results of research into ways of protecting the ANA based
monoclonal antibodies (MAb) from acylating agents used in modifying
the MAb. Recently, Procyon scientists have shown that certain
naturally occurring non-pathogenic anti-nuclear antibodies (ANAs)
may be used to selectively recognize and kill a broad spectrum of
cancer cells, both in vitro and in vivo. This antibody could be
used for the delivery of imaging agents or drugs to different
tumors following chemical modification. However 2C5, the Company's
lead monoclonal candidate, is extremely sensitive to a number of
standard antibody modification procedures, which led to an
inactivation of the antibody's binding site and an inability of 2C5
to recognize its target antigen. Proycon has developed a practical
approach to protect antibodies against inactivation by various
acylating agents. This approach should prove beneficial for
antibodies easily inactivated, like 2C5 MAb.
* The poster entitled "Cloning, purification, characterization and
biological activity of recombinant human PSP (rHu PSP)" presented
preclinical results showing evidence of the efficacy of recombinant
PSP(94) (Prostate Secretory Protein) in reducing growth of human
prostate cancer xenografts in SCID (severely immuno-compromised)
mice by over 65%. The activity of the recombinant protein was
found to be consistent in tissue cultures as well as in nude
(immuno-compromised) and SCID mice. These results confirm that
recombinant PSP(94) has, like the native PSP(94), anti-cancer
activity.
* The poster entitled "Rat Prostatic Secretory Protein of 94 amino
acids (PSP(94)) inhibits proliferation and viability, and induces
apoptosis in the rat prostate adenocarcinoma cell line PAIII in
vitro" presented studies confirming the pro-apoptotic and anti-
tumorigenic activity of PSP(94) in a prostate cancer rat model,
developed in conjunction with company collaborators led by Dr.
Michael Clarke at the University of Western Ontario. In in vitro
experiments, rat PSP(94) was shown to inhibit DNA synthesis and
decrease cell viability. These results further validate PSP(94)'s
potential as a novel prostate cancer therapeutic. |
