Genoscience Pharma to present novel cancer therapeutic strategy at EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium

Genoscience Pharma, a company focused on discovering and developing small molecules to treat cancer by targeting cancer stem cells, today announces that it will present data on its most promising candidate at the 26th EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, in Barcelona, Spain, on November 18-21, 2014.

Genoscience Pharma has developed a unique therapeutic approach that simultaneously eliminates differentiated cancerous cells whilst also eradicating the stem cells that generated the cancerous cells in the first place.

A novel therapeutic strategy to treat cancer and avoid relapses

In spite of the considerable resources dedicated to understanding and treating cancer, the need remains for comprehensive therapies that successfully prevent relapses and achieve sustainable clinical response rates. The ‘cancer stem cell hypothesis’ demonstrates that tumors contain a small number of tumor-initiating cells. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are defined as those cells within a tumor that can self-renew and drive tumorigenesis.

Unlike most cells within the tumor, CSCs are resistant to existing cancer therapies. After treatment, they regenerate all the cell types and metastasise in the tumor via stem cell-like behavior. For this reason, innovative drugs targeting CSCs could improve cancer treatment. Using an original approach, Genoscience Pharma has identified small molecules to develop that will target and eradicate the cancer stem cells.

Two lead compounds have been selected: GNS396 to treat Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and GNS561 to treat Hepatocellular Carcinoma. In AML, by simultaneously targeting the tumorigenic (with GNS396) and non-tumorigenic populations (with GNS396 and Cytarabine), both leukemia cell heterogeneity and plasticity could be overcome.

“GNS396 and its analogues offer great promise for AML treatment and the prevention of relapse, particularly if combined with chemotherapy,” said Antoine Beret, general manager at Genoscience. “This breakthrough affords a unique opportunity to explore a new route against cancer.”

“The forthcoming EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium presentation will demonstrate our deep knowledge of the role of cancer stem cells as the pivotal factor in leukemia progression and relapse,” said Professor Philippe Halfon, MD, Ph.D., president and founder, Genoscience. “We will showcase our growing pipeline of pre-clinical product candidates. The research data supports our future clinical development in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). We will present evidence from our experiments with the cancer stem cell targeting agent GNS396 and explain how it reacts by inhibiting the autophagy pathways.”

Hosted by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the 2014 Symposium will bring together around 2,000 academics, scientists and pharmaceutical industry representatives from around the world to discuss innovations in drug development, target selection and the impact of new discoveries in molecular biology.