On September 21, 2017 Cellectar Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: CLRB), an oncology-focused, clinical stage biotechnology company (the "company"), and Onconova Therapeutics (Nasdaq:ONTX) reported that they have entered into a strategic collaboration to develop new phospholipid drug conjugates (PDCs) combining Cellectar’s patented phospholipid ether delivery platform with select proprietary compounds or payloads from Onconova’s early stage product pipeline (Press release, Cellectar Biosciences, SEP 22, 2017, View Source [SID1234520607]). Newtown, Pa.-based Onconova is a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel small molecule drug candidates to treat cancer.
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"Access to novel anti-tumor payloads is key to leveraging our next generation PDC delivery platform technology for the discovery of novel, proprietary targeted anti-cancer therapeutics," said Jim Caruso, president and CEO of Cellectar Biosciences. "Onconova is an established player in developing small molecule anti-cancer compounds. Their unique early stage assets, development experience and ability to successfully advance compounds into Phase 3 clinical trials makes them an excellent partner for Cellectar."
Under the terms of the collaboration, Onconova will provide Cellectar with several compounds, including some from the family of molecules that contains Briciclib, which is an EIF4E targeting small molecule with early Phase 1 data. Cellectar will leverage its expertise in early development and chemical conjugation to link the molecules to its phospholipid ether (PDC platform) to create new, more precisely targeted antitumor agents. Both companies will have the option to advance the development of any of the newly conjugated PDC molecules. Financial terms of the collaboration have not been disclosed.
"We are focused on optimizing the delivery of our therapeutic compounds in the battle against Myelodysplastic Syndrome and a variety of cancers. As such, we are excited to collaborate with Cellectar and leverage their PDC platform, which we believe can improve the targeting of our molecules directly to the cancer, in addition to extending the patent coverage of these drug candidates," said Ramesh Kumar, Ph.D., president and CEO of Onconova Therapeutics.
About Phospholipid Drug Conjugates (PDCs)
Cellectar’s product candidates are built upon its patented cancer cell-targeting delivery and retention platform of optimized phospholipid ether-drug conjugates (PDCs). The company deliberately designed its phospholipid ether (PLE) carrier platform to be coupled with a variety of payloads to facilitate both therapeutic and diagnostic applications. The basis for selective tumor targeting of our PDC compounds lies in the differences between the plasma membranes of cancer cells compared to those of normal cells. Cancer cell membranes are highly enriched in lipid rafts, which are glycolipoprotein microdomains of the plasma membrane of cells that contain high concentrations of cholesterol and sphingolipids, and serve to organize cell surface and intracellular signaling molecules. PDCs have been tested in more than 80 different xenograft models of cancer.