Anti-cancer stem cell drug starts clinical trials
pharmafile | January 14, 2011 | News story | Research and Development | Cancer, GSK, GlaxoSmithKline, OMP-21M18, OMP-59R5, OncoMed, Stem cells, advanced solid tumour cancers
OncoMed and GSK’s novel anti cancer stem cell drug OMP-59R5 has begun clinical trials and could represent the future direction for oncology medicines.
A phase I study of OMP-59R5 has commenced in patients with advanced solid tumour cancers after pre-clinical studies showed it decreased the frequency of tumour-initiating cells across a variety of cancer types.
It was discovered by OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, which is developing a number of novel therapeutics that target cancer stem cells, and the firm hopes its pre-clinical success can be replicated in human testing.
Paul Hastings, president and chief executive of OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, said: “The advancement of our second antibody into the clinic represents an important milestone for OncoMed, demonstrating our robust and productive drug discovery capabilities and steady execution on our objectives for our programmes.
“In just a few short years, we have established a rich pipeline of first-in-class anti-cancer stem cell therapeutics with the potential to dramatically transform cancer treatment by directly targeting tumour-initiating cells.”
In December 2007, OncoMed and GSK entered into a strategic alliance valued at up to $1.4 billion to develop cancer stem cell antibody therapeutics targeting the Notch signaling pathway.
OMP-59R5 is part of OncoMed’s collaboration with GSK and its clinical advancement has triggered its first milestone payment.
Cancer stem cells are a small, resilient subset of cells found in tumours that have the capacity to self-renew and differentiate, leading to tumour initiation and driving its growth, recurrence and metastasis.
Also referred to as ‘tumour-initiating cells’, these cells were first discovered in breast cancer by OncoMed’s scientific founders and have subsequently been identified in many other types of solid tumour cancers, including cancers of the head and neck, lung, prostate, pancreas and glioblastoma.
Cancer stem cells appear to be preferentially resistant to both standard chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
OncoMed’s strategy is to improve cancer treatment by specifically targeting the key biologic pathways that are thought to be critical to the activity and survival of cancer stem cells.
This is a novel mechanism of action that is not currently used for any cancer treatment. The standard mechanism of action for most solid cancers is the targeting of specific outer-cell mutations that cause angiogenesis, a strategy first employed by Roche’s blockbuster drug anti-VEGF drug Avastin.
The success of these types of cancer drugs have varied and the future of oncology treatments will need to drill deeper, past the outer layer of the cell and into its core.
Depending on their success, stem cell trials such as OncoMed’s oculd be the future for this type of research.
OncoMed also is currently conducting phase I single agent and phase Ib combination studies of its first Notch-pathway candidate, OMP-21M18, in patients with a variety of advanced solid tumours.
Preliminary results from this study demonstrate positive indications of disease control and tumour responses as measured by RECIST criteria.
Ben Adams
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