Date: 2015-06-01
Type of information: Presentation of results at a congress
phase: preclinical
Announcement: presentation of results at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, in Chicago
Company: BergenBio (Norway)
Product: BGB324 and BGB10C9
Action
mechanism: AXL inhibitor/ receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor/monoclonal antibody. BGB324 is a highly selective, oral AXL inhibitor that blocks the epithelial-mesenchymal transition, which is a key driver of metastasis and drug-resistance. BGB10C9 is an Axl function-blocking monoclonal antibody.
Disease: pancreatic cancer
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology
Country:
Trial details:
Latest
news: * On June 1, 2015, BerGenBio announced that an abstract on the latest data on BGB324, the Company’s first-in-class, selective small molecule inhibitor of the Axl receptor tyrosine kinase, and BGB10C9, an Axl function-blocking monoclonal antibody in pre-clinical development at BerGenBio, has been published in conjunction with the 2015 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago, May 29 - June 2, 2015. The abstract entitled: “Targeting Axl for the treatment of pancreatic cancer” by Dr. Kathleen Ludwig and Prof. Rolf A. Brekken, The University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, Texas, demonstrates that selective Axl-targeting with BGB324 or BGB10C9, inhibits tumour progression and blocks metastasis in multiple murine models of pancreatic cancer.
In vitro analysis was performed in pancreatic cancer cell lines and in vivo efficacy of Axl inhibition by BGB324, BGB10C9 or low-dose warfarin treatment (an inhibitor of the Axl ligand Gas6) was evaluated in several aggressive murine models of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma . By targeting Axl, markers of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition were downregulated and tumour cell migration, invasiveness and proliferation were inhibited, while apoptosis and sensitivity to chemotherapy were increased. In the murine pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma models, tumour progression was inhibited and spontaneous metastasis was blocked. This data supports the development of selective Axl-targeting agents to enhance pancreatic cancer treatment and suggests that BGB324, currently in two Phase Ib trials, or BGB10C9, may significantly improve outcomes in these patients.
