NEW YORK, Feb. 5, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AV Therapeutics, Inc., ("AV Therapeutics" or "the Company") (OTCQB:AVTH), a developer of cancer therapeutics and vaccines, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with DavosPharma, a New Jersey-based company with 40 years of experience manufacturing drugs for the biotech industry, to assist in the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) synthesis of its lead drug candidate Capridine.
DavosPharma is expected to complete the manufacturing of the drug in the 2nd quarter of 2014. The Company is also in the process of preparing its Investigational New Drug (IND) application for the FDA. AV Therapeutics is hopeful that it can begin its Phase I clinical trial in the 4th quarter. Phase I clinical trials will be managed by a consortium of hospitals including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. This will facilitate expeditious experimental results.
Prostate cancer caused nearly 30,000 deaths in the U.S. alone in 2013, according to the National Institute of Health which funded AV Therapeutics' research. The U.S. Department of Defense also provided research funding.
Dr. Abe Mittelman, M.D., CEO of AV Therapeutics, stated: "I am pleased at our progress in moving forward with the manufacturing of Capridine. This is an important step as we prepare for our human clinical trials."
Capridine has been shown to have specific activity towards both hormone dependent and independent prostate cancer and minimal bone marrow toxicity in preclinical studies conducted by AV Therapeutics. If successful Capridine will be the first of its kind adjuvant chemotherapeutic drug for all stages of prostate cancer.
About AV Therapeutics, Inc.
AV Therapeutics, Inc. is engaged in the business of developing cancer therapeutics and immunotherapeutic vaccines that can be used alone or in combination with prevalent treatment modalities such as chemotherapy and radiation to treat active disease and to prevent metastases and recurrence. The Company's immune-therapeutics is based on the ability of certain proprietary reagents to re-educate or reprogram an immune system that can target previously unidentified micro-metastases. The Company intends to clinically develop both of these approaches for metastatic and early-stage prostate cancer.