Mr. Alexander Krantz reports

ADVANCED PROTEOME THERAPEUTICS' LEAD COMPOUND INHIBITS METASTASIS IN BREAST CANCER TUMOR MODEL

Advanced Proteome Therapeutics Corp.'s current lead compound, APC 101, has successfully diminished the frequency of tumour metastasis in the 4T1 animal model. The company's academic collaborators used three different methods, carried out over several weeks, for measuring metastases from breast to lungs in animals: clonogenic assays, bioluminescent imaging and histopathology. All three methods were in agreement that APC 101 reduced metastases to the lungs. The clonogenic assay, which measures the effect of drugs or radiation on proliferating tumour cells, indicated that just a single dose of APC 101 dramatically reduced the number of tumour colonies in lungs, and the lung colonies were all but eradicated by combining APC 101 with a checkpoint inhibitor, an anti-CTLA-4 antibody.

APC has been engaged in the research and development of protein drugs in the area of cancer therapeutics. An outgrowth of the company's program has been APC 101, a chemically modified form of the parent delivery system targeted to tumours that has exhibited retardation of tumour growth of a fibrosarcoma in an animal model. As part of an overall plan to explore the utility of APC 101, the company has extended studies of APC 101 to other treatment models. The company has also concluded a preliminary investigation of APC 101 in the CT26 animal model of colon cancer, in which all regimens were well tolerated as reported by a renowned contract research organization. A two-dose regimen of APC 101 combined with an anti-CTLA-4 regimen resulted in statistically significant tumour growth delay. For the time being, however, given the encouraging results with the 4T1 model, the company intends to focus its resources on developing molecules capable of retarding metastasis using this model as a guidepost.

The 4T1 mouse model of breast cancer is poorly immunogenic and highly metastatic, with characteristics shared with advanced human cancers that make it among the most popular tumour models for assessing novel therapeutic approaches. It is an especially appealing tumour model because it can spontaneously metastasize from the primary tumour in the mammary gland to distant sites.

Allen Krantz, APC's president and chief executive officer, commented: "Most cancer deaths are due to metastatic disease, which is treatable but generally incurable. Distant metastasis is the primary cause from death in breast cancer. Inhibition of metastasis is clearly both a medical and commercial frontier with major opportunities to improve therapy. For example, not a single targeted therapy has been approved for the treatment of triple negative breast cancer, and cytotoxic chemotherapy remains the standard treatment. The company is excited about the results we have obtained bearing on metastasis, which clearly merit a point of focus for APC, and, potentially, extension to other hormonally driven cancers."

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