Date: 2015-08-24
Type of information: Publication of results in a medical journal
phase: preclinical
Announcement: publication of results in Molecular Cancer Research
Company: Redhill Biopharma (Israel)
Product: Yeliva™(ABC294640)
Action
mechanism: enzyme inhibitor/sphingosine kinase-2 (SK2) inhibitor. ABC294640 is a first-in-class, proprietary sphingosine kinase-2 (SK2) selective inhibitor, administered orally, with anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory activities, targeting a number of potential inflammatory, oncology and gastrointestinal indications. By inhibiting the SK2 enzyme, ABC294640 blocks the synthesis of sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P), a lipid that promotes cancer growth and pathological inflammation. ABC294640 has completed multiple successful pre-clinical studies in inflammatory, GI, radioprotection and oncology models, as well as a Phase I clinical study in cancer patients with advanced solid tumors.
Disease: prostate cancer
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology
Country:
Trial details:
Latest
news: * On August 24, 2015, RedHill Biopharma announced the publication of an article evaluating the therapeutic potential of ABC294640, the Company’s orally-administered first-in-class Sphingosine kinase 2 (SK2) selective inhibitor, in the treatment of prostate cancer. The article, authored by scientists from Apogee Biotechnology Corporation and from the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University, will be published in Molecular Cancer Research, is entitled “Downregulation of Critical Oncogenes by the Selective SK2 Inhibitor ABC294640 Hinders Prostate Cancer Progression”. The paper describes a pre-clinical study conducted with Yeliva™ (ABC294640) in early stage and advanced prostate cancer models. The findings from the study suggest that oral administration of ABC294640 (Yeliva™) disrupts multiple oncogenic signaling pathways that are deregulated in prostate cancer, corresponding with significant inhibition of tumor growth, proliferation and cell cycle progression. In particular, the compound inhibited in vitro several very resistant types of prostate cancer. The authors of the article conclude that these pre-clinical findings support the hypotheses that SK2 activity is required for prostate cancer function and that ABC294640 (Yeliva™) could represent a new pharmacological agent for the treatment of early stage and aggressive prostate cancer. The study was supported by a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, a Prostate Cancer Foundation Young Investigator award, and a Prostate Cancer Foundation Mazzone Challenge award.
RedHill recently initiated a Phase I/II study of Yeliva™ (ABC294640) in patients with refractory/relapsed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. The company is also progressing towards a second Phase II study to evaluate Yeliva™ as a radioprotectant in cancer patients undergoing therapeutic radiotherapy, and a third Phase II clinical study for the treatment of multiple myeloma.
