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Roche Sugarcoats Antibodies

http://health.yahoo.com/news/reuters/roche_cancer_dc.html;_ylt=Ao2b.a8F3iaXQvyerwVJF.2mxbAB

>> Roche says sugar technology has anticancer promise

By Ransdell Pierson - Tue Jun 24, 4:01 PM PDT
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG on Tuesday said results from a preclinical study suggest that sugar related technology acquired through its purchase of GlycArt Biotechnology AG may boost effectiveness of cancer drugs.

Privately-held GlycArt, bought for $180 million in 2005, specialized in a technology called glyco-engineering. It alters the composition of sugars which naturally coat antibodies, making the antibodies better able to prod the immune system's so-called natural killer cells to attack cancer cells.

David Heimbrook, global head of oncology discovery for Roche, said the promising results were seen in mouse trials with an experimental drug called R7159, an antibody whose sugar coating was altered in the laboratory. The product is now in early-stages of human testing.

It was studied among mice with non-Hodgkins lymphoma that had become resistant to treatment with Rituxan, Roche's lymphoma medicine which is sold outside the United States as MabThera.

"The important outcome was that we saw almost complete inhibition of tumor growth" among mice given R7159, Heimbrook said in an interview following a Roche meeting with journalists in New York.

By contrast, he said tumors continued growing among mice given placebos or Rituxan in the study.

"The appeal of this platform is that it potentially could give us a whole portfolio of antibodies that work through this process," theoretically against most types of cancer, he said.

Another year of testing with R7159, now in phase 1 studies, should give a clearer picture of the technology's true potential, Heimbrook said.

Meanwhile, he said Roche is testing similar drugs in preclinical studies against a range of other types of cancer, including solid tumors. <<