On January 10, 2018 Moleculin Biotech, Inc., (NASDAQ: MBRX) ("Moleculin" or the "Company"), a clinical stage pharmaceutical company focused on the development of anti-cancer drug candidates, some of which are based on license agreements with The University of Texas System on behalf of the MD Anderson Cancer Center ("MD Anderson"), reported it has expanded the Company’s development pipeline for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia ("AML") with an immuno-stimulating STAT3 inhibitor (Press release, Moleculin, JAN 10, 2018, View Source [SID1234523052]).
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"Leading experts in the treatment of AML, Dr. Jorge Cortes and Dr. Sanjay Awasthi have now asked us to expand our clinical research to include WP1066, our immuno-stimulating agent and STAT3 inhibitor, to increase therapeutic options for AML patients," commented Walter Klemp, Chairman and CEO of Moleculin. "This would potentially be complementary and synergistic with Annamycin and existing first line treatments and could position us as a leader in the advancement of leukemia treatments."
Dr. Sanjay Awasthi, Professor of the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology & Oncology, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and Medical Director, Southwest Cancer Center Lubbock, Texas, added, "The apparent ability in pre-clinical trials of WP1066 to stimulate the patient’s natural immune response and simultaneously inducing tumor cell death by inhibiting the activated form of STAT3 is highly promising and unique. Importantly, based on current scientific findings, such properties should be extremely valuable in developing improved treatments for AML patients and expanding their therapeutic options.
"We are clearly excited to see what Moleculin’s Annamycin can do for relapsed or refractory AML patients in the Company’s recently launched clinical trial," continued Dr. Awasthi, "thus given the potential for an even broader arsenal of AML drugs, we are encouraging Moleculin to expand their AML clinical research to include this novel immuno-stimulating STAT3 inhibitor drug candidate."
Another noted AML expert, Dr. Jorge Cortes, is also encouraging Moleculin’s clinical expansion, commenting: "AML appears to be associated with a significant increase in the activation of STAT3 and many of us in the AML clinical community have been eager to test the ability of a STAT3 inhibitor to treat AML patients. Part of the difficulty in pursuing this path has been finding a safe and effective STAT3 inhibitor and, if successful, WP1066 may have finally opened this pathway."
Mr. Klemp concluded: "Of course, our first priority will be to demonstrate single agent activity in both Annamycin and WP1066, but we see exploring the potential for synergistic effect as a longer-term opportunity as well."