(openPR) - Mainz, Germany - April 5, 2006 - GANYMED Pharmaceuticals AG announced today that several monoclonal lead antibodies directed against the company´s GC182 cancer target have shown excellent efficacy against solid human tumors in mouse Xenograft models. No toxicity was observed. The results fully confirm earlier experiments, where antibodies directed against GC182 proved to be very effective against cancer cells that expressed the target.
The GC182 target is a cell surface protein that is involved in cell-cell interactions. It was shown to be expressed with high prevalence and unique specificity in several solid cancers with high medical need (approx. 80% stomach cancers, 30% esophagus cancers, 25% lung and pancreatic cancers). The GC182 cell surface epitope that is targeted by GANYMED´s antibodies is identical in mouse and man, and highly similar in other mammalian species. Thus, mouse Xenograft models with GANYMED´s GC182 antibodies can be considered as highly predictive pre-clinical models.
"This excellent animal data fully confirms our earlier analysis based on human immunohistochemistry and cell culture data." said Dr. Özlem Türeci, CSO and co-founder of GANYMED. "The experiments clearly demonstrate that our antibodies are highly effective against tumors that express GC182, without any apparent toxicity."
Dr. Rainer Wessel, President and CEO of GANYMED emphasized: "This proof of concept in animals clearly represents a significant value step for the company. We will now move swiftly towards the next step: Clinical Development."
GANYMED Pharmaceuticals AG is building a sustainable pipeline of monoclonal antibody therapeutics against solid tumors, where current therapies are poor and where there is an overriding medical need. The therapeutic efficacy of current solid cancer therapeutics is severely limited, because their molecular targets are elevated in a subset of a particular cancer but they are also found widely in normal tissues. In contrast, GANYMED´s validated proprietary pan cancer surface antigens are uniquely specific for cancer tissues and can be expected to show greater therapeutic efficacy and better safety allowing significant reduction in time to market. The Company will market its cancer therapeutics after clinical or animal proof of concept has been demonstrated to large pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
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