ACT signs agreement to select novel clinical candidates for two cancer metabolic programs

Aug 11 2010

Advanced Cancer Therapeutics (ACT), a privately held company dedicated to bringing new anti-cancer therapies to market, today announced that it has signed an exclusive agreement to leverage the translational research expertise of Dr. Jason Chesney, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine at the University of Louisville's James Graham Brown Cancer Center (Brown Cancer Center), to identify new clinical candidates for the prevention and treatment of cancers against two key cancer metabolic targets.

“We are delighted to collaborate with him as we move closer to selecting novel clinical candidates that may prove to be lifesaving therapeutics for cancer patients.”

As part of this agreement, over the next twenty-four months, Dr. Chesney will work with ACT to further refine and advance the preclinical candidates and backup compounds against two exciting and novel cancer targets that are known as 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2,6-biphosphatase 3 (PFKFB3) and Choline Kinase (CK), both key cancer metabolism targets identified by Dr. Chesney as essential for cancer cell growth. ACT previously obtained worldwide exclusive licenses from the Brown Cancer Center for these two cancer metabolic programs summarized below:

• PFKFB3: High glucose consumption is commonly observed in cancer cells. As PFKFB3 is the enzyme involved in an irreversible step of glycolysis, ACT synthesized over 100 rationally designed inhibitors of this protein. Scientific evidence suggests that inhibitors of the PFKFB3 enzyme block glucose uptake in cancer cells therefore inhibiting cancer cells proliferation and tumor growth.
• Choline Kinase: Choline Kinase, the enzyme responsible for the phosphorylation of choline into phosphocholine, is over expressed in most solid tumors including lung, breast, ovarian, brain and prostate cancers. ACT's medicinal chemists have developed over 150 rationally designed, potent compound inhibitors that inhibit choline kinase enzymatic activity, cell proliferation and tumor growth in xenograft studies.

"Dr. Chesney has long been a thought-leader in cancer metabolism and his research has always been high quality and cutting-edge," said Randall Riggs, President & CEO of ACT. "We are delighted to collaborate with him as we move closer to selecting novel clinical candidates that may prove to be lifesaving therapeutics for cancer patients."