On March 24, 2015 IOmet Pharma, a privately-held company focused on cancer immunotherapy and cancer metabolism, will present data demonstrating superior pharmacokinetic / pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) properties in its pre-clinical IDO, TDO and IDO/TDO Dual Inhibitor programs (Press release, IOmet Pharma, MAR 24, 2015, View Source [SID:1234508798]). The data will be presented at the Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) (Free SITC Whitepaper) (ITOC) meeting in Munich, Germany on March 25 & 26.
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IOmet is developing multiple, distinct novel chemical series of potent, IDO-selective, TDO-selective and dual-acting IDO/TDO inhibitors. IDO (indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase) and TDO (tryptophan-2,3-dioxygenase), the rate-limiting enzymes in the pathway that metabolises the essential amino acid tryptophan, have emerged as key targets for the pharmaceutical industry in the cancer immunotherapy field. Overexpression of these enzymes has been detected in a variety of cancers, including glioma, melanoma, lung, ovarian and colorectal cancers, and is associated with poor prognosis and survival.
IDO and TDO overexpression leads to tryptophan depletion and high tumour levels of the breakdown product, kynurenine. This elevated kynurenine/tryptophan (K/T) ratio supresses the body’s immune response to cancer, thus facilitating tumour progression and metastasis. Extensive preclinical evidence, and emerging clinical data, suggests that inhibition of IDO and/or TDO may synergise with, and help overcome resistance to, existing clinical cancer therapies, in particular other immunotherapy-based treatments.
Compared to IDO inhibitors identified to date, IOmet’s compounds demonstrate highly favourable in vitro human and rodent PK properties, which translate to superior in vivo PK/PD relationships.
Cancer immunotherapy is an exciting and rapidly growing field of research investigating the use of therapies that harness the body’s own immune system in the fight against cancer. Tumours utilise a variety of mechanisms to evade host immune detection. The aim of the cancer immunotherapy approach is to prevent a tumour’s ability to suppress its own detection and elimination by the patient’s immune system.