Angiochem reports Phase 1/2 efficacy study results of ANG1005 for treating brain cancer

Angiochem, Inc. a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing drugs that are uniquely capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier to treat brain diseases, announced today that its lead drug candidate, ANG1005, has demonstrated a favorable safety and efficacy profile in more than 100 patients with brain cancer from two separate Phase 1 /2 clinical studies in patients with progressive gliomas, including recurrent glioblastoma, and in patients with progressive brain metastases. These data, which validates in humans Angiochem’s peptide-based platform technology (EPiC), were presented at the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting in Chicago on October 18, 2009.

In the recently completed Phase 1/2 brain metastases clinical trial, greater than 70% of patients receiving therapeutic doses experienced disease control (stable disease or better) with more than half of them showing clear reduction in tumor size. Furthermore, 78% of patients with taxane resistant tumors showed responses, indicating ANG1005 has the potential to be effective against resistant tumors. Of significance, therapeutic doses of ANG1005 were present in patient brain tumor samples, indicating that the drug successfully crosses the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and concentrates in the tumor, without showing central nervous system (CNS) toxicity or immunogenicity. Similar trends in patient responses have been observed to-date in the on-going Phase 1/2 recurrent glioblastoma clinical trial with approximately 65% of patients experiencing disease control.

“It is highly encouraging to see that ANG1005 has shown the potential to be effective in metastatic brain cancers and against drug resistant tumors, that are highly aggressive and have few treatment options,” commented Jan Drappatz, MD, Center for Neuro-Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Department of Neurology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and, Harvard Medical School, and lead investigator for Boston-area study centers. “Furthermore, significant reductions in tumor size and reversal of neurological deficits were observed in several cases of patients with high-grade gliomas in the on-going clinical trial. We are very encouraged by these efficacy signals and look forward to learning more about the effects of ANG1005 in recurrent glioblastoma as the study progresses.”