NEW YORK, Nov. 17, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BeyondSpring Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of innovative cancer therapies, today announced data from a series of preclinical studies demonstrating that its lead compound Plinabulin is highly effective in Kras mutant tumor models. The data were presented during the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, which took place November 5-9, 2015 in Boston, MA.
The study, titled "Activity of Plinabulin in Tumor Models with Kras Mutations" (Abstract/Poster #A184), was presented by BeyondSpring Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Ken Lloyd during a poster session on Tubulin-Interacting Agents.
Results from the in vitro and in vivo study indicate that Plinabulin may have a strong clinical benefit in treating tumors with Kras mutations especially non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and colorectal cancer (CRC) tumors that exhibit Kras mutations and respond poorly, if at all, to current standards of care. This activity corresponds to Plinabulin's multiple mechanisms of action to target the tumor microenvironment, including anti-angiogenesis, inhibition of tubulin polymerization and activation of JNK, which is downstream of the Kras pathway.
Data also show that Plinabulin may enhance the activity of standard of care (SOC) agents, such as docetaxel, paclitaxel and irinotecan, in Kras mutant target tumor populations.
In vitro, Plinabulin displayed high potency against Kras mutated (codons 12 or 13) CRC, multiple myeloma, breast and pancreatic cell lines, with a half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) in the range of 7-14 nanomolar.
In vivo, Plinabulin was tested as a single agent and in combination with docetaxel in five mouse xenograft human tumor models with Kras mutations: CRC (LoVo and HCT-15), NSCLC (A549), MM (MM.1S) and breast (MDA-MB-231). In all cases Plinabulin significantly increased the anti-tumor activity of the standard of care agents, with total growth inhibition between 59-84 percent.
Dr. Lan Huang, Co-founder and CEO of BeyondSpring Pharmaceuticals, commented, "Results from this study demonstrate Plinabulin's potential as a highly effective treatment strategy for several Kras-mutant tumor types. Our findings show that Plinabulin's spectrum of anti-tumor activity as a single agent as well as in combination with current standards of care could be most effective against Kras mutations in multiple myeloma, NSCLC, colorectal cancer and breast cancers. Furthermore, the data suggest that Plinabulin is equally effective against both Kras mutated and wild type tumors, which could have broad clinical implications since a high percentage of NSCLC and colorectal cancers show the presence of Kras mutations. Overall, these results are very encouraging and validate our strategy to initiate clinical evaluation of Plinabulin to treat NSCLC and colon tumors with Kras mutations."
About BeyondSpring Pharmaceuticals
BeyondSpring Pharmaceuticals is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of innovative cancer therapies. BeyondSpring is focused on the advancement and commercialization of Plinabulin, a novel cancer therapeutic initially targeting non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which is presently in Phase 3. Led by an expert management team consisting of pharmaceutical industry veterans from the U.S. and China, the Company is well positioned to further advance lead product candidate, Plinabulin. For more information, visit www.beyondspringpharma.com.