PreveCeutical Announces Preliminary Screening Results of Peptides
Derived From Blue Scorpion Venom in a Cell-Based Brain Cancer Model
Monday March 11, 2019 - Vancouver, British Columbia: PreveCeutical Medical Inc. (the “Company” or “PreveCeutical”) (CSE: PREV, OTCQB: PRVCF, FSE: 18H), is pleased to announce positive results from the preliminary screening of key peptides from its scorpion venom-derived peptide research and development program (the “Peptide Program”), that is expected to enable the Company to generate Nature Identical™ peptide therapeutics intended for therapeutic applications. PreveCeutical’s initial focus is to understand the activities of such peptides in cell-based brain cancer models.
Through preliminary screening in a glioblastoma cell-based assay, PreveCeutical’s research team has successfully identified four lead peptides that inhibit the activity of a target protein implicit in the progression of certain aggressive brain cancers.
Further, the re-designed and synthesised peptides were found to be equally or more potent in the cell-based activity assay when compared to another scorpion peptide, Chlorotoxin. A series of more comprehensive screening assays are underway in the final stage of the Peptide Program, to allow the Company to develop a more detailed understanding of the activities of the peptides in progressively complex cell-based brain cancer models. No clinical studies have been planned to be undertaken at this time.
PreveCeutical’s President, Dr. Mak Jawadekar, commented, “This is a key milestone for PreveCeutical, as this research program underway in Queensland, Australia has successfully identified four lead peptides from blue scorpion venom.”
Dr. Harry Parekh, PreveCeutical’s Chief Research Officer commented, “We have identified novel, lead peptide candidates that inhibit activity of a key protein implicated in driving the aggressive nature of certain brain cancers. From a practical perspective, these lead peptides are attractive as they are a fraction of the size and complexity of an earlier reported scorpion-derived peptide, Chlorotoxin.”
