VION tread is dead, so I am posting this here. Very early in research, but it is something new.
Vion and EPTTCO Team to Develop New Cancer Treatments Based on TAPET(R) Delivery of Prodrug Converting Enzymes
NEW HAVEN, Conn. and ABINGDON, England, April 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Vion
Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: VION) and EPTTCO Limited, a new U.K.-based company,
today announced a collaboration to research and develop new cancer treatments.
The aim of the alliance will be to "arm" Vion's TAPET(R) bacterial vectors,
which in preclinical studies have shown the ability to target and grow in
solid tumors, with EPTTCO's prodrug activation technology, which uses enzymes
to convert inactive prodrugs into cytotoxic anti-cancer agents. In doing so,
the companies hope to create new cancer treatments that may be systemically
delivered, and may potentially be more effective against a wide range of solid
tumors, including metastases, and less toxic to normal tissues than current
chemotherapeutic drugs.
Under the terms of the agreement, both parties will equally contribute
technology and manpower to establish and test the combined therapeutic system.
If a specific combination of the two technologies proves successful, the
collaboration will seek a corporate partner to clinically develop and
commercialize the combined system as a potential cancer therapeutic.
"We view TAPET(R) as a platform delivery system that can be employed to
deliver a range of therapeutic agents in the treatment of solid tumors," said
Alan Kessman, chief executive officer of Vion Pharmaceuticals. "Administered
systemically, TAPET has demonstrated effectiveness in preclinical tests across
the entire range of solid tumors, which represent 60% of all cancers. We are
delighted to form this collaboration with EPTTCO, another step towards our
goal of establishing TAPET as a delivery system for the treatment of cancer."
"We are impressed with the potential of Vion's TAPET(R) vectors as
vehicles for the targeted delivery of anticancer agents to solid tumors," said
Trevor Twose, chief executive officer of EPTTCO. "At the same time,
preclinical studies with our prodrug activation systems have exhibited
powerful cytotoxic effects on cancers, killing non-dividing as well as
dividing cells, with low systemic toxicity. Together, we believe our combined
technologies have the potential to create a truly novel, targeted approach to
the treatment of cancer."
TAPET(R) vectors, developed by Vion, are genetically modified Salmonella
bacteria that the company has engineered both for the potential to
preferentially target tumors over normal tissue and for safety. In
preclinical studies, TAPET vectors alone have shown the ability to accumulate
in tumors at ratios in excess of 1000:1 compared with normal tissues. In
addition, administration of the bacteria to mice bearing melanoma tumors
resulted in tumors less than six percent the size of tumors in untreated
control animals. Vion is preparing to initiate human clinical safety testing
of its TAPET vectors alone during 1999, and to subsequently develop TAPET as a
vector for the systemic delivery of a wide range of anticancer agents.
EPTTCO has developed several proprietary prodrug activating systems for
"arming" therapeutic delivery systems, such as TAPET and gene therapy vectors,
to increase their ability to kill tumor cells. One of EPTTCO's enzyme genes
is introduced into the delivery system in such a way that active enzymes are
produced. A small molecule prodrug, which is inactive and safe prior to
activation by the enzyme, is administered systemically and is converted to an
active cytotoxic drug by the enzyme. The delivery system ensures that enzyme
production and prodrug activation is selectively localised within tumors,
resulting in local killing of tumor cells, whilst sparing other normal tissues
from toxic effects. EPTTCO has demonstrated the efficacy and safety of its
systems in preclinical models, including demonstrating long-term regressions
of several human tumors in in vivo models.
EPTTCO is a new U.K.-based company engaged in the design and development
of therapeutics for cancer and other serious diseases, initially based on its
prodrug activation systems. The company brings together research expertise
and technology from the Aukland Cancer Society Research Centre of the
University of Auckland, New Zealand (ACSRC), the CRC Centre for Cancer
Therapeutics, the Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, U.K. (ICR) and the
Centre for Applied Microbiology, Porton Down, U.K. (CAMR). The company was
formed in early 1999 by Cancer Research Campaign Technologies Limited, London,
U.K. together with Aukland UniServices Ltd., ICR and CAMR.
Vion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the
discovery, development and commercialization of novel products and
technologies for the treatment of cancer and viral diseases. The company has
an extensive research and development pipeline focused on five principal
projects: Promycin(R) (porfiromycin), a hypoxic cancer cell therapy currently
undergoing Phase III clinical testing; TAPET(R), the company's platform cancer
treatment technology; Triapine(TM), a ribonucleotide reductase inhibitor
currently in a Phase I clinical trial; Beta-L-FD4C, a novel nucleoside analog
for the treatment of viral diseases; and sulfonyl hydrazine prodrugs, for the
treatment of cancer. The company has licensed its non-core MELASYN(R)
(synthetic melanin) technology to San-Mar Laboratories, who plans to market
its first over-the-counter cosmeceutical preparations for vitiligo. For
additional information on Vion and its research and product development
programs, visit the company's Internet web site at vionpharm.com.
Statements included in this press release which are not historical in
nature are forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe-harbor
provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Forward-looking statements regarding the Company's future business prospects,
plans, objectives, expectations and intentions are subject to certain risks,
uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those projected or suggested in the forward-looking
statements, including, but not limited to those contained in the Company's
Registration Statement filed on Form S-3 (file no. 333-37941).
CONTACT: Thomas E. Klein, Chief Financial Officer of Vion
Pharmaceuticals, 203-498-4210, or vioninfo@vionpharm.com; Joan Kureczka of
J. Kureczka Associates, 415-821-2413, or Jkureczka@aol.com; Trevor M. Twose,
Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of EPTTCO, 44-1-865-821970; or Chris Gardner of
HCC, 44-171-496-3300, fax, 44-171-496-3355, or c.gardner@hccdf.co.uk
SOURCE Vion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Web Site: vionpharm.com |
