PharmaGap Announces Results of Testing at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer
Ottawa, Ontario/ May 16, 2007 – PharmaGap Inc. (TSX-V: GAP) (“PharmaGap” or “the Company”), a Canadian biotechnology company developing novel compounds to treat cancer, today announced results from the initial phase of testing of the Company’s lead cancer drug, PhGalpha1, at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (“Memorial Sloan-Kettering”) in New York City.
In testing undertaken under the direction of Dr. Gary Schwartz at Memorial Sloan-Kettering,
PhGalpha1 was shown to increase the effect of a commonly used chemotherapeutic drug in killing cancer cells by approximately 50%.
Dr. Schwartz, in commenting on these results, said: “These exciting laboratory studies show that PhGalpha1, an inhibitor of protein kinase C (PKC), enhances the effect of chemotherapy in human cancer cell lines. They provide a strong rationale for the further preclinical assessment of this agent at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, with the hope of translating these studies into human clinical trials.”
The cancer cell lines producing this result are known to be highly drug-resistant, requiring increasing doses of highly toxic chemotherapeutic agents during the course of treatment. Included in the study was colorectal cancer, the third leading cause of cancer deaths in North America. The ability to both improve the effectiveness of and reduce patients’ exposure to toxic chemotherapy regimes through the use of PhGalpha1, a drug acting on the cell’s signaling pathways, can have a major clinical impact when approved for human use.
The successful results obtained using PharmaGap’s cancer drug at Memorial Sloan-Kettering provide strong independent validation of the company’s science platform and lead drug potential for eventual human clinical use.
Robert McInnis, President and C.E.O. of PharmaGap, said: “We are thrilled to see these results achieved by Dr. Schwartz independently in his labs at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, which confirm and extend our previous results in both bench top and animal trials. We are delighted that Dr. Schwartz sees merit in our cancer program and that he has expressed interest in furthering the progress of PhGalpha1 towards human clinical trials. We also are fortunate to be able to add data produced in Dr. Schwartz’s lab to data produced in PharmaGap’s labs in order to further development of our pipeline of additional PKC inhibitor drugs. Testing of PhGalpha1 is continuing at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, with the scope and nature of the next phase of work currently under discussion.”
About Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City is the world’s oldest and largest institution devoted to prevention, patient care, research and education in cancer (www.mskcc.org).
About Dr. Gary Schwartz
Dr. Gary Schwartz, who leads the study program for PhGalpha1 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, is an acknowledged leader in PKC cell signalling research in cancer treatment and has studied PKC inhibitors as potential cancer treatment for over 18 years. He has published numerous academic papers in the field and has been granted two U.S. patents on PKC inhibition for cancer treatment. Dr. Schwartz, Chief of Melanoma and Sarcoma Service for Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s Department of Medicine’s Division of Solid Tumor Oncology, is a medical oncologist specializing in the identification and development of new targeted drugs for cancer therapy, specifically aimed at understanding the mechanisms underlying the cell cycle and cell death, and the role that proteins, including protein kinases, play in these mechanisms. He is a Member and Attending Physician at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Professor of Medicine at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York. He is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO) Scientific Program and Cancer Education Committees and has served as the American Association of Cancer Researcher’s (AACR) co-Chairperson for the Program Committee on Translational Research in Molecular Biology. Dr. Schwartz is also an Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Clinical Oncology and an Associate Editor of Clinical Cancer Research.
About PharmaGap Inc.
PharmaGap Inc. (TSX-V: GAP), based in Ottawa, ON, is a biotechnology company with a core focus on developing novel therapeutic compounds for the treatment of cancer. PharmaGap's research platform targets cellular signaling pathways controlled by protein kinase C (PKC) isoforms. PharmaGap's lead drug compound, PhGalpha1, is in preclinical development. The Company's strategy is to out-license drug compounds to larger life sciences companies at the preclinical stage. For more information please visit the Company's website at www.pharmagap.com.