Baton Rouge-based Esperance Pharmaceuticals Inc. has entered into a strategic alliance agreement with MD Anderson Cancer Center to accelerate the clinical development of its lead anti-cancer drug EP-100 for the treatment of ovarian cancer.
According to Monday’s announcement, Esperance will also collaborate with MD Anderson on preclinical studies of EP-100 as a treatment for breast cancer.
Esperance CEO Hector Alila says the alliance—coupled with the company’s recent completion of a Phase II trial of EP-100—are “major milestones” and could lead to quicker review and approval of the peptide for treatment.
“Studies to date suggest that EP-100 could become a valuable novel targeted therapy for ovarian and breast cancer, as well as other indications,” Alila said in making the announcement. “We look forward to a productive relationship that has the potential to achieve important gains in the battle against cancer.”
The company previously reported positive results from a Phase II trial of EP-100 in ovarian cancer patients resistant to paclitaxel. EP-100 is a targeted membrane-disrupting peptide designed to seek and destroy cancer cells that overexpress luteinizing hormone releasing hormone receptors on their surfaces. LHRH receptors are over-expressed in a wide range of cancers including ovarian, breast, prostate, pancreatic and endometrial cancer.
As part of the strategic alliance, MD Anderson will conduct additional studies to help prepare for a Phase III trial of EP-100 in ovarian cancer. It also will collaborate with Esperance to conduct studies needed to initiate clinical trials of EP-100 in breast cancer and assess the anticancer potential of other drug candidates generated by Esperance’s Cationic Lytic Peptide platform technology.
The company’s patented technology was discovered by scientists at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center and LSU. EP-100 was developed at PBRC as part of a sponsored research agreement funded by Esperance under the leadership of Alila and Pennington’s Carola Leuschner, who is now Senior Director of Biology at Esperance.
Further details of the agreement were not disclosed. Read a Business Report story about Esperance Pharmaceuticals.
