Preclinical development - sustainable, targeted, safe treatment for leukemia with inhibitor AVX420

Offentlig prosjektsammendrag

The cPLA2a technology consists of a series of proprietary small molecule inhibitors of the cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2a) enzyme involved in inflammation and uncontrolled cell growth. This provides a range of potentially attractive indications for the patented molecular inhibitors of cPLA2a including skin, cancer, liver and kidney diseases. We have observed a significant effect in human blood cancer cells in a recent preclinical trial with the lead candidate AVX420. This indicates that AVX420 has selective properties against blood cancer cells and thus less risk of causing side effects on the healthy immune system, which is often seen in today's combination treatments against cancer. Preliminary results show that our drug candidate AVX420 induces a specific form of cell death, programmed cell death, in a very low concentration range (nM) specific to human blood cancer (leukemia) cells. This sensitivity to cell death was not observed in human healthy T cells, even with a fifty-fold higher concentration of AVX420. The programmed cell death is not harmful to the host and does not provoke an inflammatory reaction, unlike another type of cell death, necrosis, which is characterized by the usual side effect profile often seen with chemotherapy. This suggests that AVX420 has selective properties against blood cancer cells and less risk of causing side effects on the healthy immune system, which is often seen with existing treatment options. Considering the current range of combination therapies, new treatment options are of great interest for patients who are not suitable for intensive treatment such as chemoimmunotherapy, therefore it is assessed that AVX420 has the potential to become an attractive treatment option within this patient segment, both as a single treatment and in combination treatment for blood cancer patients.