X-BODY receives research grant for therapeutic project against metastatic tumor stem cells

Nov 2 2010

X-BODY BioSciences, a developer of human monoclonal antibody therapeutics, today announced it has been awarded a research grant under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 for its human monoclonal antibody therapeutic project targeting metastatic tumor stem cells.  The grant was awarded by the US Department of the Treasury and reviewed by scientists at the Department of Health and Human Services.  This grant provides X-BODY with the maximum allowable 50% reimbursement of X-BODY's qualified investment of ~$500,000 in this project.

X-BODY's therapeutic candidates target a kinase signaling pathway that is believed to mediate metastasis (invasion and spreading) of cancer tumor initiating stem cells. There is no selective inhibitor of this targeted pathway on the market. Targeting tumor-initiating cells via this pathway alone or with combination therapy may prevent metastasis in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer and other solid tumors.  Non-small cell lung cancer is a very common cancer with an 11-14% five-year survival rate and causes ~1.4 million yearly deaths globally.

X-BODY's pre-clinical candidates were discovered using X-BODY's proprietary platform, based on innovative screening technology allowing for rapid generation of human antibody therapeutics of high affinity and selectivity, via deep sequence interrogation of fully human DNA libraries.