EPTTCO and Onyx Pharmaceuticals Sign Evaluation and License
Agreement to Arm Onyx's Anticancer Viruses
ABINGDON, England, Aug 2, 2000 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- EPTTCO Limited, a private UK biotechnology company today announced a multi-year agreement with Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ONXX chart, msgs) aimed at arming Onyx's anticancer viruses with EPTTCO's prodrug-converting enzymes, which will potentially enable the viruses to turn nontoxic prodrugs into active anticancer agents directly within virus-infected cancer cells, thereby killing the target, but without affecting normal cells.
The companies will identify, evaluate and select novel prodrugs that are converted by the enzyme nitroreductase (NR), which has the ability to convert a variety of small molecule prodrugs into active cytotoxic agents. As part of the agreement, Onyx gains a licence to the enzyme gene itself and the right to license, on an exclusive basis, worldwide rights to certain novel prodrugs discovered through the research collaboration for use in its proprietary Armed Therapeutic Virus (ATV) platform
"This collaboration will bring together a powerful combination of biological and pharmacological approaches to developing therapies that can search out and kill cancers," said Trevor Twose, Chief Executive Officer of EPTTCO. "EPTTCO will provide several classes of novel produgs, developed by the research team of Professor Bill Denny in Auckland, New Zealand,"
"Unlike existing standard cancer therapies such as radiation and chemotherapy, which can be highly destructive to normal c ells," said Hollings Renton, President and Chief Executive Officer of Onyx Pharmaceuticals, "Onyx's selectively replicating ATV platform has the potential to deliver and amplify anticancer agents directly in tumor cells."
"Our platform technology has been validated in clinical and preclinical studies. In addition, our viruses have been shown to selectively target and replicate in specific precancerous and cancerous cells without affecting normal cells, resulting in both selectivity and amplification," said Hollings Renton. "The prospects of genetically arming these viruses with prodrug-activating enzymes offer intriguing possibilities for the creation of potentially more effective and safer anticancer agents."
EPTTCO has developed several proprietary prodrug-activating systems for 'arming' therapeutic delivery systems, such as bacterial, viral 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 in the target cells. 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 localized 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 vivo models.
In April 1999, EPTTCO entered an agreement with Vion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: VION chart, msgs) to arm its
anticancer therapy, TAPET(R), based on highly attenuated bacteria that, in preclinical studies, have demonstrated preferential replication in tumors compared to normal tissues. In January 2000, AstraZeneca signed an option agreement with Vion and EPTTCO, under the terms of which AstraZeneca will evaluate a version of Vion's TAPET bacterial vector, armed with EPTTCO's prodrug activation technology.
EPTTCO Limited is a UK-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 Auckland 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 Technology Limited, London, U.K. together with Auckland UniServices Ltd., ICR and CAMR.
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