Life Sciences News Brief
Vol. 5 no.31 - October 12, 2005
　

Procyon Biopharma Inc. (Montreal) announced that it has completed the continuation through an amendment to the PCK3145-UK-2001 Phase IIa clinical trial in which the feasibility of administering its synthetic peptide PCK3145 once per week as opposed to three times per week was investigated in metastatic hormone refractory prostate cancer patients. This continuation to the study was also performed by Professor Robert Hawkins, Principal Investigator of the Phase IIa clinical trial and Director, Cancer Research UK Department of Medical Oncology at the Christie Hospital NHS Trust, Manchester, UK. Two additional cohorts of 4 patients were treated either at 15 mg/m2 or 60 mg/m2 once a week, corresponding, respectively, to the 5 mg/m2 and the 20 mg/m2 dose given three times a week in the original study. The results for the amendment further confirm the safety and tolerability of PCK3145. The majority of patients in the amendment received 2 cycles of treatment with one patient receiving 7 cycles equaling 8 months of treatment. A single cycle of treatment comprised 4 weeks of treatment followed by a one-week observation period. The majority of the adverse events (AEs) were clinically non-significant (Grade 1 - mild and Grade 2 - moderate) and unrelated to the study medication.

Overall tumor response measured by CT scans showed stable disease in three patients. Some PSA reduction was observed in two patients but not significant enough (greater than 50%) to be considered a definitive response. In all patients with elevated plasma MMP-9 levels, these levels were again seen to normalize (39% to 94% reductions) with treatment while patients who had a normal level of MMP-9 at study entry, this remained low and only increased when cancer relapse was deemed to have occurred.

Viventia provides update of Vicinium(TM) clinical program

Viventia Biotech Inc. (Toronto) announced that it has changed the name of its lead armed antibody, VB4-845, to Vicinium(TM) when the drug is used to treat bladder cancer. VB4-845 will continue to be known as Proxinium(TM) when it is used for the treatment of head & neck cancer. The Company also announced it has expanded its ongoing Phase I/II bladder cancer trial for Vicinium(TM), which remains on schedule, to include additional patients. "Vicinium and Proxinium have the same drug product but are administered differently using distinct formulations and concentrations," said Dr. Nick Glover, Viventia's President and CEO.

"We continue to focus on developing a robust clinical package for Vicinium(TM). Our ongoing bladder cancer trial will ultimately enroll a total of more than 80 patients, with the Phase II arm on track to start in Q1, 2006."

Cipher CIP-Isotretinoin new drug application accepted for review

Efforts to develop a new class of chronic arthritis medications using a painkiller compound naturally produced by the body have fallen short, researchers say. A new animal-based study has shown that endomorphin, the morphine-like pain control agent in question, does not have any "observable effect" on reducing the sensitivity of arthritic joint nerves in the long run. The therapy did, however, provoke a dramatic reduction -- upwards of 75 percent -- in short-term joint hypersensitivity.

"I don't think it's all negative news," said study co-author Jason J. McDougall, an associate professor in the department of physiology and biophysics at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. "We were able to block pain responses in normal joints and also in the early stages of arthritis. But clearly arthritis is a chronic long-term disease, so we were obviously disappointed that we weren't able to block the pain of long-term inflammation."

Neurochem receives third positive recommendation

Neurochem Inc. (Laval) announced that its Independent Safety Review Board (ISRB) has issued a third recommendation to continue the Company's North American Phase III clinical trial for Alzhemed(TM), an investigational product candidate for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The recommendation by the ISRB members was based on their recent review of the safety data from 1,042 patients who have been on study medication for an average of 20 weeks. Neurochem's ISRB for Alzhemed(TM) is made up of independent medical experts who monitor and evaluate the safety of patients taking part in the Alzhemed(TM) Phase III clinical trial in North America.

Chromos Enters License Agreement With BD for T-cell Expansion Patents

Chromos Molecular Systems Inc. (Burnaby) announced that a patent license has been granted to BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), a global medical technology company, under Chromos' U.S. Patent Number 6,316,257 and 6,890,753 and their foreign counterparts relating to expansion of antigen-specific T-cells. Under terms of the agreement, BD is granted a license to the Chromos patents for a limited field of use and will pay license fees, maintenance fees, milestone payments and royalties on sales of products and services covered by the patent. The financial terms and the field of use of the license were not disclosed.

Chemokine expands protection of core anti-cancer technology

Chemokine Therapeutics Corp. (Vancouver), a biotechnology company developing chemokine-based therapies to treat cancer, blood disorders, cardiovascular, and infectious diseases, announced that it has been granted U.S. Patent No. 6,946,445 relating to a broad range of composition of matter claims, which include claims that cover its lead anti-cancer compound, CTCE-9908, among others. CTCE-9908 is designed to block CXCR4, a receptor found on the surface of cancer cells.

CTCE-9908 is part of a new generation of anti-cancer drug candidates that have the potential to both stop the spread of cancer (anti-metastasis) and slow the rate of cancer growth (anti-angiogenesis). The target receptor for CTCE-9908, CXCR4, is present on most tumours, including lung, breast, colon, ovarian, bone, brain and skin cancer cells. In experimental animal models, CTCE-9908 reduced cancer metastases by a significant 50-70%.

Viventia receives Health Canada clearance to initiate Phase II cancer trial

Viventia Biotech Inc. (Toronto) announced that it has received clearance from Health Canada to initiate a Phase II study evaluating Proxinium(TM) for the treatment of patients with chemotherapy-refractory recurrent head and neck cancer. "This clearance will allow us to expand our proposed Phase II trial for Proxinium(TM) to include Canadian patients and reflects our strategy to ultimately develop Proxinium(TM) on a global basis," said Dr. Nick Glover, Viventia's President and CEO.

Angiotech Announces Drug Discovery And Development Agreement

Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Vancouver) announced a license and research collaboration agreement with CombinatoRx, Incorporated focused on the selection and development of novel combination pharmaceutical compounds for Angiotech's local interventional therapy applications. The collaboration significantly expands Angiotech's library of potentially useful drug compounds by providing Angiotech with access to CombinatoRx's compound library of over 2 million analyzed combinations of known pharmaceuticals, for exclusive use in various interventional medicine fields.

Lorus results of clinical assay development for GTI-2040/GTI-2501

Lorus Therapeutics Inc. (Toronto), a biopharmaceutical company specializing in the development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products and technologies for the management of cancer, announced that scientists at Lorus have published the results of assay development studies in human blood samples for the company's antisense drugs currently in Phase II clinical trials. The results appear in an article titled, "Optimization of the PAXgene(TM) blood RNA extraction system for gene expression analysis of clinical samples", which was published in the September issue (Volume 19, issue 5, pages 182-188) of the Journal of Clinical Laboratory Analysis. The article also appears online.

Labopharm, GlaxoSmithKline to Commercialize Once-Daily Tramadol

Labopharm Inc. (Laval) announced that it has completed a licensing and distribution agreement for its once-daily tramadol product for 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Combined, the 20 countries covered by the agreement represent annual pharmaceutical sales of more than US$13.0 billion and pain product sales of more than US$1.2 billion. Labopharm has now secured marketing partners for its once-daily tramadol product for 41 countries, including the United States and four of the five largest markets for tramadol products in Europe.

Oncolytics Biotech Inc. Announces Issuance of Second Canadian Patent

• Tm Bioscience Corporation (Toronto), a leader in the commercial genetic testing market, announced that it has concluded a license agreement with Abbott for certain intellectual property in the areas of, among others, human and pathogen genotyping. The non-exclusive license is worldwide, expires co-terminously with the associated patents and covers Tm's current and future products in all fields of use……..
• Ondine Biopharma Corporation (Vancouver) announced that it has achieved ISO 13485 certification, a critical step to the commercialization of its PERIOWAVE(R) product…….
• Magistral Biotech Inc. (Montreal) announces that a binding letter of intent has been signed with Diversified Natural Products and Immunotec Research Ltd., providing for the acquisition by DNP of all of Magistral's cholesterol lowering assets as part of the proposed acquisition of Magistral by Immunotec, by way of a reverse take-over, as announced by Magistral on September 20, 2005…….
• Tm Bioscience Corporation (Toronto), a leader in the commercial genetic testing market, announced it has signed an agreement to supply PathGroup (Brentwood, Tennessee) with the Tag-It(TM) ASR(*) reagents for use in its Cystic Fibrosis gene assay…….
• MIGENIX Inc. (Vancouver), a clinical-stage developer of drugs for infectious diseases and degenerative diseases, has received notice that Nancy S. Coulson, Senior Vice President, Product Development, is resigning from the Company, effective October 16, 2005 to accept a senior position at a global pharmaceutical company based in the United States…….
• Trillium Therapeutics Inc. (Toronto) announced that it has acquired all assets belonging to Arthron Ltd. Pty. (Arthron), a subsidiary of Prima Biomed Ltd. Prima, a publicly traded Australian biotechnology company, develops technologies in the fields of immunology and cancer immunotherapy originating from the Austin Research Institute, in Melbourne, Australia……
• Cardiome Pharma Corp. (Vancouver) announced that it has appointed Peter W. Roberts to the Board of Directors of the Company……. The Company wishes to announce that further to a resolution passed by shareholders at the September Annual General Meeting, it has now officially changed its name from
• Altachem Pharma Ltd. to Quest PharmaTech Inc. In connection with this name change, the Company's common shares will be traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the new trading symbol "QPT" (former trading symbol "AAF")…….
• Welichem Biotech Inc. (Burnaby) announced that Mr. Dan London has joined the company as Chief Operating Officer……
• DRAXIS Health Inc. (Mississauga) has named Mr. Dan Brazier to the newly created position of Chief Operating Officer (COO). Mr. Brazier will immediately assume his new responsibilities for day-to-day operations across DRAXIS and will report to Dr. Martin Barkin, President and Chief Executive Officer…….
• Biophage Pharma (Montreal) announced the appointment of Dr. Pearl Chin to its Board of Directors. Dr. Chin is the founder and managing Director of Seraphima Ventures……
• Bioniche Life Sciences Inc. (Belleville), a research-based, technology-driven Canadian biopharmaceutical company, announced that it has signed an exclusive, non-binding letter of intent to sell its majority ownership stake (approximately 65%, fully-diluted) in Bioniche Pharma Group Limited to RoundTable Healthcare Partners, a U.S. healthcare focused private equity group. As part of the same letter of intent, ICC Private Equity Fund (a Fund managed by Bank of Scotland (Ireland) Limited), the minority owner of Bioniche Pharma Group, has agreed terms for the sale of its stake to RoundTable Healthcare Partners. Bioniche Pharma Group is a business unit of Bioniche Life Sciences that manufactures and markets sterile injectable pharmaceutical products in County Galway, Ireland…..

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