Kosan Receives National Cancer Institute Grant to Discover Second-Generation Hsp90 Inhibitors as Potential Anticancer Agents
Tuesday April 13, 7:30 am ET
HAYWARD, Calif., April 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Kosan Biosciences Incorporated (Nasdaq: KOSN - News) announced today that it has been awarded a two- year, $750,000 Phase II Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant from the National Cancer Institute. The grant was awarded to support Kosan's development of next-generation inhibitors of Hsp90 (heat shock protein 90) as potential anticancer agents.
"Hsp90 is becoming an increasingly important target for cancer chemotherapy, and Kosan will continue to seek second-generation analogs that will keep us in the forefront of the Hsp90 field. Under the SBIR grant, we will use Kosan's genetic engineering technology to alter the scaffold of geldanamycin in a manner that cannot be achieved by other means," said Daniel V. Santi, M.D., Ph.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Kosan.
Kosan and the NCI are currently collaborating in multiple Phase Ib combination and planning to initiate multiple Phase II single-agent clinical trials of the first-in-class geldanamycin analog, 17-AAG. A novel backup analog is expected to enter clinical development this year.
Hsp90 is a protein chaperone that binds to several sets of signaling proteins, known as "client proteins." These proteins include a "who's who" list of cancer-relevant targets such as mutated p53, Bcr-Abl, Raf-1, ErbB2 and other kinases, as well as steroid hormone receptors. The polyketide geldanamycin, and analogs such as 17-allylamino-geldanamycin (17-AAG), cause disruption of Hsp90-client protein complexes and lead to proteosome-mediated degradation of client proteins. Moreover, geldanamycin analogs have been shown to sensitize cancer cells to the effects of a variety of other anticancer agents, suggesting their broad utility in combination chemotherapy.
About Kosan
Kosan Biosciences Incorporated uses gene-engineering, chemistry and process science technologies to discover and develop polyketides that target large pharmaceutical markets. Polyketides are a class of natural products produced in soil microorganisms that have yielded numerous important pharmaceuticals for the treatment of cancer, infectious diseases, high cholesterol, transplant rejection and other diseases. Kosan Bioscience's lead candidates, KOS-862 and 17-AAG, are undergoing clinical development for cancer. KOS-862 is in Phase Ib and Phase II clinical trials and is partnered with Roche; 17-AAG is being evaluated in multiple Phase Ib clinical trials in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute.
This press release contains "forward-looking" statements, including statements relating to the activity and potential efficacy of 17-AAG and other geldanamycin analogs in the treatment of cancer and with respect to ongoing and planned Phase Ib and Phase II clinical trials. Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause the results of Kosan to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including, among others, risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003 and other periodic filings with the SEC. Kosan does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements. |
