The Company has tested the efficacy of anti-HAAH antibodies for the treatment of cancer in animal models of human disease.
- In xenograft models of human primary liver cancer, the initial target disease, treatment with anti-HAAH antibodies reduced cancer tumor size in all animals, and in 75% of cases after four weeks of treatment tumors were non-detectable.
- In a model of tumor metastasis using human colon cancer cells spreading to the liver, treatment with anti-HAAH antibodies greatly reduced the number and size of metastases.
These results are highly significant and clearly indicate the utility of anti-HAAH antibodies in the treatment of human cancer. It is noteworthy that in both these instances animals were treated with antibody alone, not in conjunction with any other treatment.
The Company, together with researchers at MIT, have developed a fully human anti-HAAH antibody. This antibody has a 10-fold greater affinity for HAAH while retaining all the properties of the previous anti-HAAH antibodies. Fully human antibodies are more amenable to use as agents for treatment of human disease than either mouse or chimeric antibodies, and avoid many of the side effects associated with other antibody treatments.
The Company is now entering full-scale product development of anti-HAAH antibodies for the treatment of liver cancer. This work includes large scale antibody manufacture and full pre-clinical studies of these antibody drugs.
Panacea is also pursuing an immuno-conjugate drug strategy in which anti-HAAH antibodies would be utilized as a mechanism for the specific delivery of cytotoxic agents to cancer cells. Preliminary in vitro experiments have been performed with a plant-derived toxin, saporin; significant (40%) and specific inhibition of tumor cell proliferation was achieved at relatively modest concentrations of anti-HAAH antibodies.
The Company has tested the efficacy of anti-HAAH antibodies for the treatment of cancer in animal models of human disease.