AntiCancer's oral drug overcomes gemcitabine resistance in mouse models of human pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is lethal in about 95% of cases mostly due to failure of first-line therapy gemcitabine. AntiCancer Inc.'s oral methioninase (AC 00619), which is in late pre-clinical development as an anti-cancer as well as an anti-aging drug, has now been shown to overcome gemcitabine resistance in mouse models of human pancreatic cancer, including AntiCancer's patient-derived orthotopic xenograft (PDOX^®) mouse models. The new results are to be published in the upcoming issue of Cancer Letters.

"Methioninase can change the paradigm of pancreatic cancer therapy," said Robert M. Hoffman, Founder of AntiCancer. "Methioninase is active against all cancer types, since they all require excess methionine compared to normal tissue, as seen in the use of radioactive methionine in positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, which gives the strongest PET signal due to the hunger of cancers for methionine," said Hoffman.

With AntiCancer's strong patent position on oral methioninase, a very big commercial potential is expected. AntiCancer's Methuselah Pharmaceuticals subsidiary has been formed to develop oral methioninase as a therapeutic for cancer, diabetes, obesity, hyperhomocysteinemia, and to extend the normal healthy life span.

AntiCancer is also developing engineered bacteria to target all cancer types and has the most patient-like mouse models of cancer, including its PDOX^® models, as well as MetaMouse^®; AngioMouse^®; its histoculture drug response assay (HDRA^®), which is an in vitro test for first-line chemotherapy; and hair-follicle-associated-pluripotent (HAP) stem cells for regenerative medicine. AntiCancer was founded in 1984 with world headquarters in San Diego and subsidiaries in Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, and Nanjing.

Source: http://www.anticancer.com