Dr. Reddy’s arm to test Curis’ cancer product in India

Aurigene Discovery Technologies Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories engaged in discovery and early clinical development of therapies to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases, plans to initiate a phase 2 trial in India of Curis Inc’s CA-170, an oral small molecule targeting the immune checkpoints PDL1 and VISTA.
This follows Aurigene’s collaborator and licensee of CA-170 Curis Inc presenting the preliminary data from the initial 34 patients with cancer treated in the dose escalation stage of the Phase 1 trial at the European Society for Medical Oncology 2017 Congress, a release from Dr. Reddy’s on Tuesday said.
The trial was conducted in the US, South Korea and Spain. Curis is a biotechnology firm focused on development and commercialisation of innovative and effective therapeutics for treatment of cancer. Immune checkpoints are the body’s mechanism to prevent the immune system from going into an overdrive while combating infections. “With Curis we have designed a phase 2 trial treating selected populations of patients of interest in the CA-170 programme to be treated at major cancer centres in India,” Aurigene CEO CSN Murthy said.
Biotechnology firm Aurigene’s decision to fund this trial is affirmation of its commitment to CA-170 and a reflection of the successful collaboration it has with Curis in multiple development programmes. Aurigene has the commercial rights to the programme in India and Russia in addition to milestones, royalties other commercial supply rights globally, he said.
“Evidence of tumour shrinkage and multiple patients remaining on drug treatment for extended periods... tells us the programme continues to move in the right direction,” Curis president and CEO Ali Fattaey said.
Source:http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/dr-reddys-arm-to-test-curis-cancer-product-in-india/article19672702.ece

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

EMA validates Incyte’s MAA for retifanlimab to treat metastatic squamous cell anal carcinoma

Incyte, global biopharmaceutical company, announced the validation of the Company’s Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for retifanlimab, an intravenous PD-1 inhibitor, as a potential treatment for adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic squamous cell anal carcinoma (SCAC) who have progressed on, or who are intolerant of, platinum-based chemotherapy. The European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) validation of the MAA confirms that the submission is sufficiently complete to begin the formal review process. “While the incidence of SCAC is increasing in Europe, treatment options for advanced disease are limited in their effectiveness, and there are no approved options once patients have progressed on standard therapy,” said Lance Leopold, M.D., Group vice president, Immuno-Oncology Clinical Development, Incyte. “The EMA validation of the MAA for retifanlimab – which follows the recent US Food & Drug Administration acceptance of our Biologics License Application for Priority R...
Read more

Tumour-targeting drug paves way for bone cancer treatment

 The treatment of osteosarcoma, the most common tumour of bone, is challenging, but a new study is offering hope to the patients with this disease. The study led by The University of  Texas MD Anderson Cancer Centre  found that a drug, known as bone metastasis-targeting peptidomimetic (BMTP-11), has potential as a new therapeutic strategy for this devastating illness. Results from the preclinical study looked at BMTP-11 alone and in combination with the chemotherapy agent gemcitabine. Although osteosarcoma is a relatively rare cancer, it is a leading disease-related cause of death in children and young adults ages 10 to 20. However, over the last 25 years, the five-year survival rate has remained unchanged, and the treatment options for these patients are few. In addition, the side effects of available treatment options often are significant and cumulative, and may cause other health problems and damage to major organs. "What's novel about this treatment is that...
Read more

Merck’s Keytruda plus platinum- and fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy receives US FDA nod to treat certain patients with locally advanced/metastatic esophageal or GEJ carcinoma

Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Keytruda, Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy, for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic esophageal or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) (tumors with epicenter 1 to 5 centimeters above the GEJ) carcinoma that is not amenable to surgical resection or definitive chemoradiation in combination with platinum- and fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy. The approval is based on results from the phase 3 KEYNOTE-590 trial, which demonstrated significant improvements in overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS) and objective response rate (ORR) for Keytruda plus fluorouracil (FU) and cisplatin versus FU and cisplatin alone, regardless of histology or PD-L1 expression status. For OS and PFS, Keytruda plus FU and cisplatin reduced the risk of death by 27% (HR=0.73 [95% CI, 0.62-0.86]; p<0.0001) and reduced the risk of disease progression or death...
Read more