RedHill Biopharma Announces Poster Presentation at the 2017 AACR-NCI-EORTC Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics Conference
TEL-AVIV, Israel and RALEIGH, N.C., Oct. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RedHill Biopharma Ltd. (RDHL) (Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange:RDHL) (“RedHill” or the “Company”), a specialty biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on late clinical-stage development and commercialization of proprietary, orally-administered, small molecule drugs for gastrointestinal and inflammatory diseases and cancer, today announced a planned poster presentation relating to the active metabolite of MESUPRON, WX-UK1, at the 2017 AACR-NCI-EORTC Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics Conference, on Sunday, October 29, 2017, from 12:30 - 4:00 PM, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA.
MESUPRON is a proprietary, first-in-class, orally-administered protease inhibitor, with several potential mechanisms of action to inhibit tumor invasion and metastasis. MESUPRON presents a new, non-cytotoxic approach to cancer therapy and potentially to additional inflammatory gastrointestinal diseases, such as diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D), pancreatitis and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
The poster1, entitled ‘New potential therapeutic applications of WX-UK1 as a specific and potent inhibitor of human trypsin-2 and human trypsin-3’, was authored by scientists from the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics of Aarhus University in collaboration with RedHill Biopharma. The abstract presents data from non-clinical studies, concluding that WX-UK1 is a potent and rather specific inhibitor of human trypsin-2 and human trypsin-3, suggesting new potential therapeutic applications of WX-UK1 in oncology and inflammatory gastrointestinal diseases.
RedHill acquired the exclusive worldwide development and commercialization rights to MESUPRON, excluding China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao, from Germany’s WILEX AG for all indications. WILEX AG completed several clinical studies with MESUPRON for different indications, including two Phase II proof-of-concept studies, one for pancreatic cancer and one for metastatic breast cancer.
RedHill has an ongoing research collaboration agreement with the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics of Aarhus University in Denmark for the evaluation of MESUPRON. The non-clinical studies with MESUPRON are intended to support the clinical data from previous Phase I and Phase II studies, and may allow RedHill to take a precision medicine approach going forward. Further evaluation of MESUPRON, together with Aarhus University, may allow for selection of appropriate subpopulations of patients toward demonstrating the activity of MESUPRON in planned clinical trials.
About MESUPRON:
MESUPRON is a proprietary, first-in-class, orally-administered potent protease inhibitor of human trypsin-2 and human trypsin-3, targeting pancreatic cancer and inflammatory gastrointestinal diseases. Protease inhibitors have been shown to play key roles in tumor invasion and the metastasis process. High levels of certain proteases are associated with poor prognosis in various solid tumor cancers, such as pancreatic, gastric, breast and prostate cancers. MESUPRON presents a promising new non-cytotoxic approach to cancer therapy with several potential mechanisms of action to inhibit both tumor metastasis and growth. MESUPRON has undergone several Phase I studies and two Phase II proof-of-concept studies. The first Phase II study was in locally-advanced, unresectable pancreatic cancer and the second study in metastatic breast cancer in combination with first-line chemotherapeutic agents. RedHill received a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for a new patent covering the use of MESUPRON and RedHill’s Phase II-stage investigational compound, YELIVA®, in combination with a known antibiotic, for hard-to-treat cancers.
