Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (CTI) Granted U.S. Patent for New Potent Antitubulin Agents With Anti-Cancer Activity
Monday April 10, 7:00 am ET
Preclinical Studies Demonstrate Antiproliferative Activity in Tumor Cell Lines Resistant to Standard Chemotherapy
[You know that the situation is pretty tough, when companies feel obliged to come forward to announce new patents].
SEATTLE, April 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (CTI) (Nasdaq: CTIC; MTAX) announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted a patent for a new class of small molecule antitubulin agents with potent antiproliferative and tumor killing activity. CT-45099 is the first lead optimized agent from this class of compounds to advance into preclinical testing. The patent, owned by CTI's European subsidiary, Cell Therapeutics Europe S.r.l. (CTI-Europe), covers analogs of CT-45099 and will expire in April 2022. CT-45099 is protected by a U.S. and European patent already granted to CTI-Europe.
Unlike the marketed taxane-based cancer drugs, Taxol® (paclitaxel) and Taxotere® (docetaxel), or even investigational new drugs like epothilones, which kill cells by stabilizing microtubules and preventing their disassembly, this class of agents blocks tubulin assembly and destabilizes microtubules during cell mitosis. Therefore, this class of agents has anti-tumor activity distinct from these other drugs. In addition, this new class of antitubulin agents is not susceptible to multi-drug resistance, one of the most common mechanisms by which cancer cells develop resistance to standard chemotherapies. CT-45099 and its analogs inhibit in vitro the growth of colon, lung, gastric, and prostate cancer cell lines, including cancer cells resistant to paclitaxel or doxorubicin treatment.
"This patent, and the new class of agents covered within, highlights our ability to take a well known target in cancer drug development, like tubulin, and apply our medicinal chemistry expertise to develop a novel class of anti-cancer agents that may possess superior anti-tumor activity over commonly used tubulin-stabilizing chemotherapy drugs," noted Alberto Bernareggi, Ph.D., Managing Director of CTI-Europe. |
