Berg Pharma presents at ASCO, poised to lead field in cancer metabolism with Phase II trials of BPM 31510

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• Publié par: berg-pharma-inc
• Nombre de lectures: 33
• Langue: English

Extrait

Berg Pharma presents at ASCO, poised to lead

field in cancer metabolism with Phase II trials

of BPM 31510

PR Newswire

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, June 12, 2012

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts

,

June 12, 2012

/PRNewswire/ -- Berg Pharma, a

Boston

-based pharmaceutical company presented at the 2012 American

Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in

Chicago

on BPM 31510, the lead

molecule in the Berg's cancer portfolio that targets the metabolism of cancer

cells by reversing the Warburg phenotype. BPM 31510, an endogenous small

molecule resident in mitochondria restores oxidative phosphorylation and

confers re-capitulation of the BCL-2 protein family potential to induce cell

death, a process that cancer evades. Mechanistic studies show that BPM 31510

does not adversely affect normal tissue but rather optimizes the bioenergetic

balance in the tumor microenvironment to "normalize" a cancer cell into

behaving much like a healthy cell.

Vikas P. Sukhatme, MD PhD,

Victor J. Aresty Professor of Medicine

at Harvard

Medical School and

Chief Academic Officer at

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical

Center commented, "Targeting metabolic pathways that differ between cancer

cells and normal cells holds considerable promise for cancer therapy and this

study falls squarely in this category. It will be instructive to see if the degree of

reversal of the Warburg effect by BPM 31510 correlates with clinical

outcomes."

Results presented at ASCO in the Phase I trial on advanced, refractory, solid

tumors revealed that BPM 31510 was well-tolerated with no serious side

effects. The Phase I is on-going as the MTD has not been reached to date

however, there has already been very encouraging signs of efficacy with 1

patient showing a near complete response in addition to a few significant

partial responses and stable disease profile in various patient cohorts. Linda

Vahdat, MD,

Professor of Medicine, Head, Solid Tumor Service, and Director of

the Breast Cancer Research Program

at Weill Cornell Medical School said, "It is

terrific to see the implementation of targeting metabolism in treating cancer

finally underway. I am cautiously optimistic, based on the preliminary safety

and efficacy results of BPM 31510 in the phase I in solid tumors, that we will be

able to quickly move this agent into phase II trials in selected cancers."

Berg plans to move into Phase II trials in late 2012 with specific focus on

cancers that demonstrate an aggressive/highly metabolic phenotype such as

pancreatic, triple-negative breast, and colorectal cancers. Pre-clinical models

presented at the 2012 AACR meeting showed that BPM 31510 has a synergistic

effect with various chemotherapy regimens in aggressive cancers. Niven R.

Narain,

Co-Founder, President & CTO

of Berg Pharma said, "We are excited

about moving this agent into Phase II trials with an astute combination strategy

based on pre-clinical scientific guidance. BPM 31510 is showing promising

activity in early trials as a monotherapy and we are eager to assess activity in

combination with standard of care."

The company also has other clinical programs with a topical form of BPM 31510

for skin cancer and BPM 31543 for supportive care in cancer that prevents hair

loss during chemotherapy. Berg's robust pipeline is fueled by the

Interrogative

Biology

®

platform which has developed therapeutics targets in cancer,

endocrinology, and CNS diseases with a focus on mitochondrial metabolism.

About Berg Pharma

Berg Pharma is a

Boston

based pharmaceutical company and parent company

to Berg Biosystems and Berg Diagnostics. Our research focus seeks to

understand how alterations in metabolism relate to disease onset. We have

uncovered key insight into metabolic control factors and namely into underlying

elements in the Warburg Hypothesis. The company has a deep pipeline of

early-stage technologies in CNS diseases and metabolic diseases that

complement its late-stage clinical trial activity in cancer and prevention of

chemotoxicity. Armed with use of the discovery platform that translates

biological output into viable therapeutics and a robust biomarker library,

Berg

Pharma is poised to realize its pursuit of a healthier tomorrow.