Maxim Pharmaceuticals Announces Issue of U.S. Patent 6,906,203 Covering a Novel Class of Apoptosis Inducers
SAN DIEGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–July 7, 2005–Maxim Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:MAXM) (STO:MAXM) announced today the issuance of U.S. Patent 6,906,203, entitled “Substituted 4H-Chromene and Analogs as Activators of Caspases and Inducers of Apoptosis and the Use Thereof.” The issued patent covers a novel class of potent apoptosis inducers with vascular targeting activity that inhibit microtubule formation. The lead compound in this series is MX2407 (MX116407), which has strong antitumor activity in pre-clinical in vitro and in vivo studies and is being advanced for clinical development.
Maxim Apoptosis Modulator Discovery Platform
Cancerous cells often exhibit unchecked growth caused by the disabling or absence of the natural process of programmed cell death called apoptosis. Apoptosis is normally triggered to destroy a cell from within when it outlives its purpose or it is seriously damaged. One of the most promising approaches in the fight against cancer is to selectively induce apoptosis in cancer cells, thereby checking, and perhaps reversing, the improper cell growth.
Maxim researchers can efficiently identify new cancer drug candidates and molecular targets that selectively induce apoptosis in cancer cells through the use of chemical genetics and our proprietary live cell high-throughput caspase-3 screening technology. Chemical genetics is a research approach investigating the effect of small molecule drug candidates on the cellular activity of a protein, enabling researchers to determine the protein’s function. Using this approach with its proprietary caspase-3 screening technology, Maxim researchers can focus their investigation on the cellular activity of small molecule drug candidates and their relationship to apoptosis. The focus on apoptosis is achieved by screening for the activity of caspase-3, an enzyme with an essential role in cleaving other important proteins necessary to cause cell death through apoptosis.
This combination of chemical genetics and caspase-3 screening technology allows Maxim’s researchers to discover and rapidly test the effect of small molecules on pathways and molecular targets crucial to apoptosis, and gain insights into their potential as new anticancer agents. Our screening technology is particularly versatile and can be adapted for almost any cell type that can be cultured, and it can measure caspase activation inside multiple cell types (e.g. cancer cells, immune cells, or cell lines from different organ systems or genetically engineered cells). This allows researchers to find potential drug candidates that are selective for specific cancer types, which may help identify candidates that provide increased therapeutic benefit and reduced toxicity.
The versatility of the platform also allows for applications beyond cancer, such as inflammatory disease where we have developed an assay to identify immunosuppressive agents that selectively induce apoptosis in activated B and T cells.
Maxim’s high-throughput screening capabilities allow researchers to screen approximately 30,000 compounds per day. To date, this program has identified several families of compounds with potentially novel mechanisms that induce apoptosis in cancer cells. Four compounds from within these families have progressed to lead drug candidate status with proven pre-clinical efficacies in tumor models and identified molecular targets.
Maxim Overview
Maxim Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing innovative cancer therapeutics. Maxim has completed one Phase 3 clinical trial of Ceplene(TM) plus Interleukin-2 combination therapy as a remission maintenance therapy for patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. The Company is currently seeking a strategic partnership to further develop the compound and to complete commercialization. Maxim is also engaged in the discovery and development of small-molecule apoptosis inducers to treat various cancers. This program has identified four lead candidates that are proceeding to clinical trials independently and through collaborations.
Apoptosis compounds and Ceplene are investigational drugs and have not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or any international regulatory agency.
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements include statements regarding the Company’s patents, the efficacy, safety and intended utilization of the Company’s apoptosis compounds and Ceplene, the conduct and results of the Company’s preclinical research and clinical trials, the Company’s plans regarding regulatory filings, future research and clinical trials and plans regarding partnering activities and attempts to identify new strategic opportunities which may include a strategic transaction. Such statements are only predictions and the Company’s actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause such differences include risks associated with protecting our intellectual property, the risk that products that appeared promising in early research and clinical trials do not demonstrate safety or efficacy in larger-scale or later clinical trials, the risk that the Company will not obtain approval to market its products, the risks associated with the Company’s reliance on outside financing to meet its capital requirements, and the risks associated with the Company’s reliance on collaborative partners for further clinical trials, development and commercialization of product candidates and the risk that the Company may not be able to identify acceptable strategic opportunities or conclude any strategic transaction which it does identify. These factors and others are more fully discussed in the Company’s periodic reports and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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