London: Monday, 8 April 2013: Chi-Med today announces that data from the recently completed Phase I clinical trial of Fruquintinib (HMPL-013) and from preclinical studies of Volitinib (HMPL-504), two of the novel small molecule targeted anti-cancer drugs of Hutchison MediPharma Limited (“HMP”), its majority owned R&D company, are being presented at the 2013 American Association for Cancer Research (“AACR”) Annual Meeting held in Washington, DC, USA from 6 to 10 April 2013. Presentations on Volitinib are prepared jointly with HMP’s collaboration partner AstraZeneca PLC.
AACR is the world’s first and largest professional organisation dedicated to advancing cancer research and its mission to prevent and cure cancer. AACR membership includes more than 34,000 laboratory, translational and clinical researchers; population scientists; other health care professionals; and cancer advocates residing in more than 90 countries. AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise of the cancer community to accelerate progress in the prevention, biology, diagnosis and treatment of cancer by annually convening more than 20 conferences and educational workshops, the largest of which is the AACR Annual Meeting with more than 17,000 attendees.
One presentation will report on the final results of the Fruquintinib Phase I study, which demonstrated favourable clinical safety profile, pharmacokinetic properties and preliminary clinical efficacy. Additionally, three presentations relating to the pharmacokinetics and efficacy of Volitinib in preclinical models are being presented.
The presentations are as follows:
Further information about the 2013 AACR Annual Meeting and the abstracts is available on AACR’s website at http://www.aacr.org/home/scientists/meetings–workshops/aacr-annual-meeting-2013/program.aspx.
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Chi-Med Christian Hogg, CEO |
Telephone: +852 2121 8200 |
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Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited Richard Gray Andrew Potts Grishma Patel |
Telephone: +44 20 7886 2500 |
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Citigate Dewe Rogerson Anthony Carlisle David Dible |
Telephone: +44 20 7638 9571 Mobile: +44 7973 611 888 Mobile: +44 7967 566 919 |
At an advanced stage, tumours secrete large amounts of vascular endothelial growth factor (“VEGF”), a protein, to stimulate formation of excessive vasculature (angiogenesis) around the tumour in order to provide greater blood flow, oxygen, and nutrients to the tumour. Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (“VEGFR”) inhibitors stop the growth of blood vessels around the tumour and thereby starve the tumour of the nutrients it needs to grow rapidly.
Fruquintinib (HMPL-013) is a novel small molecule compound that is highly selective in inhibiting certain VEGF receptors, namely VEGFR1, VEGFR2, and VEGFR3, and consequently has an attractive anti-tumour profile. Fruquintinib has shown highly potent inhibitory effects on multiple human tumour xenografts, including some refractory tumours such as pancreatic cancer and melanoma and anti-tumour and anti-angiogenic effect compares favourably to approved VEGF drugs.
The c-Met (also known as HGFR) signalling pathway has specific roles particularly in normal mammalian growth and development. However, this pathway has been shown to function abnormally in a range of different cancers. Volitinib is a potent and highly selective c-Met inhibitor, which has been demonstrated to inhibit the growth of tumours in a series of pre-clinical disease models, especially for those tumours with aberrant c-Met signalling such as gene amplification or c- Met over-expression. In addition these biomarkers provide the potential to explore patient selection strategies in later stage clinical trials.
HMP is a novel drug R&D company focusing on discovering, developing and commercialising innovative therapeutics in oncology and autoimmune diseases. With a team of around 200 scientists and staff, its pipeline is comprised of novel oral compounds for cancer and inflammation in development in North America, Europe, Australia and Greater China.
HMP is majority owned by Chi-Med.
Chi-Med is the holding company of a healthcare group based primarily in China and was listed on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange in May 2006. It is focused on researching, developing, manufacturing and selling pharmaceuticals and health oriented consumer products.
Chi-Med is majority owned by Hutchison Whampoa Limited, an international company listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited.