Arius begins toxicology program for lead anti-cancer antibody

ARIUS Research Inc has announced that the Company has initiated the first study in the formal pre-clinical toxicology program for its lead anti-CD44 drug candidate, which is under development for the treatment of breast, prostate and liver cancers.

ARIUS expects to file an IND application and begin human clinical trials in 2008.

"We have initiated a pre-clinical dose-finding toxicology study for our CD44 targeting antibody, which will generate important safety data to be included in our application to the FDA for permission to begin studies in cancer patients," said Dr. Susan Hahn, Director Drug Development at ARIUS. "Previous studies with ARH460-16-2 have clearly demonstrated very potent inhibition of cancer cell growth in a number of test model systems including a type of breast cancer that cannot be treated with currently available antibodies or hormone therapies."

ARIUS is developing its novel CD44-targeting antibody for the treatment of solid tumors such as breast, prostate and liver cancers. Published research shows that certain cells in a cancer tumor behave differently from the rapidly dividing cells that are killed by standard cancer treatments. These cells survive standard therapies and are suspected of causing the spread of cancer even after patients appear to have responded to conventional treatments. CD44 can be used as a way of identifying these lethal, cancer stem cells and CD44 can also be the target for drugs to kill them and ultimately improve patient survival. CD44 has been shown to identify cancer stem cells in leukemia, breast, prostate and head and neck cancer.

"This is an exciting time for ARIUS as we establish the path for bringing our first therapeutic antibody into clinical development," said Dr. Robert Gundel, Chief Scientific Officer of ARIUS. "A novel antibody that targets cancer stem cells as part of its mechanism of action represents a new approach to cancer treatment with the potential of better efficacy and less toxicity for patients."