Access Pharmaceuticals Presents ProLindac(TM) Data At The AACR-NCI-EORTC Symposium 2008

ACCESS PHARMACEUTICALS, INC. (OTC Bulletin Board: ACCP) announced that three posters describing significant recent results of the company’s proprietary polymer DACH platinum prodrug, ProLindac, in clinical and preclinical studies are being presented this week at a major international oncology conference held in Geneva, Switzerland.

The clinical poster highlights results from the multi-center Phase 2 recurrent ovarian cancer trial in France where the level of anti-cancer activity of ProLindac in a heavily-pretreated patient population compares favorably to previously published results of single agent oxaliplatin in patients that had less pretreatment. These promising efficacy results were obtained without significant toxicity or other significant side-effects. The two preclinical posters, describing studies performed by Access collaborators at prominent Institutes in France, demonstrate the potential benefits of ProLindac over current platinum therapies: one highlights the observation that ProLindac uses albumin as a carrier, slowing blood clearance, which provides for a sustained tumor exposure to platinum. The other poster highlights that the antiproliferative effects of ProLindac are associated with an increase in expression of p21, a gene associated with cell cycle control.

“The latest results from our clinical study in advanced ovarian cancer patients continue to demonstrate that ProLindac is active in ovarian cancer with mild side-effects,” stated David P. Nowotnik, Access’ Senior Vice President Research and Development. “The two preclinical posters show that, mechanistically, ProLindac is similar to the approved DACH platinum compound, oxaliplatin, while benefiting from Access’ proprietary polymer targeting technology. Our unique design enables targeted delivery of higher levels of DACH platinum with an improved side effect profile.”

The “Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics” symposium is organized jointly by three leading oncology societies; the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), and attracts researchers and pharmaceuticals companies from all major territories. The poster titles are as follows:

Poster #104: Role of p21 in sensitivity to DACH-platinum compounds, oxaliplatin and ProLindacTM, in human cancer cells.

Poster #143: Ex vivo plasma protein binding and in vitro evaluations of AP5346, a novel platinum-bound biopolymer: Evidence showing that >72hr DACH-platinum release may play a major role in cytotoxicity.

Poster #214: AP5346 (ProLindacTM), a pH-dependent polymer-vectorized DACH platinum, is active in borderline potentially platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer (OC) patients: results from an ongoing Phase I/II trial.

Source:

1. Access Pharmaceuticals Presents ProLindac(TM) Data At The AACR-NCI-EORTC Symposium 2008