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Aposense(R) ML-10 Technology for Molecular Imaging of Apoptosis to Be Used by GSK in Experimental Oncology Studies
[18F]-ML-10 to Be Evaluated by GSK to Indicate Treatment Response in Clinical Trials
| Source: Aposense
PETACH-TIKVA, ISRAEL--(Marketwire - June 8, 2009) - Aposense Ltd., the leading developer
of agents targeting apoptosis (programmed cell death) for molecular imaging
and therapy, today announced a collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to
evaluate the potential of Aposense's PET tracer ML-10 in monitoring drug
activity in clinical studies of cancer therapies. The project is intended
to assess the contribution of ML-10 in accelerating clinical development of
cancer therapies.
"We are pleased to be working with GSK and view this collaboration as
another important step towards making molecular imaging of apoptosis
available to noninvasively monitor and potentially personalize anti-cancer
therapy," said Yoram Ashery, CEO of Aposense. "Imaging drug activity in
patients and early assessment of its biological effect may help accelerate
the development of cancer therapies and reduce development costs."
The increase in costs of developing a new oncology drug today, which are
estimated at US$1.7 billion or more, has been driven mainly by the rising
cost of clinical trials and high-attrition rates between phase I trials and
approval. Improving the efficiency of this long and expensive process is
inhibited in-part by the lag-time for assessing drug effect with current
methods, and the lack of biological information on pharmacological activity
of new agents in vivo.
Molecular imaging has recently been recognized as a potential answer to
this challenge, due to its ability to non-invasively detect and visualize
biological processes in vivo. The Aposense ML-10 probe has great promise
for directly addressing these challenges by imaging apoptosis (programmed
cell death), a biological process intrinsic to the mechanism of many
anti-cancer therapies.
The initial term of the nonexclusive collaboration is for two years and can
be extended on certain conditions. Financial terms were not disclosed.
About Apoptosis
Apoptosis is a genetically controlled program of cell death, inherent in
any nucleated cell in the body and therefore often referred to also as
"cell suicide." Upon activation, the apoptotic program executes a
well-characterized sequence of events by which the cell undergoes
fragmentation and elimination by macrophages, without damaging the
surrounding tissue. Apoptosis is a universal process of cell death and it
plays a role in most medical disorders, making it one of the important
processes of cell biology. For example, apoptosis has important roles in
oncology, both in the process of tumor growth, as well as in treatment with
most therapies which aim to induce death in cancer cells. Targeting cells
undergoing apoptosis, for imaging or delivering therapy, can therefore have
broad clinical applications.
About Molecular Imaging
Molecular imaging is an emerging field which aims to visualize
non-invasively biological processes in vivo. The ability to image
disease-related biological processes may allow physicians to detect disease
early, characterize the disease better and to personalize treatment by
real-time monitoring of therapeutic effect. Molecular imaging depends on
special molecules (probes) that can selectively target these biological
processes, while carrying an imaging moiety for visualization, such as 18F
or other positron emitting radio-isotopes that can be visualized by PET.
About APOSENSE
Aposense Ltd. is a molecular imaging and drug development company, leading
the translation of the science of apoptosis (programmed cell death) into
clinical practice. Aposense introduces novel imaging and therapeutic agents
based on rationally designed, nano-mechanisms for selective targeting of
cells undergoing apoptosis. Aposense technology is based on a new, patented
class of small molecular probes that selectively identify and accumulate
within apoptotic (dying) cells in vivo. Apoptosis plays a role in many
disease areas, including oncology, neurology and cardiology. Aposense
probes for Molecular Imaging enables real-time visualization of the
biological activity of disease, its onset, change in course and response to
therapy, and to personalize treatment for the individual patient in cancer
and other diseases. Therapeutic applications of Aposense technology in
pre-clinical development include targeted anticancer therapy by using
apoptotic cells in tumors as targets for specific delivery and activation
of cytotoxic agents in the tumor. For additional information, visit
http://www.aposense.com