Adherex, NCI to Collaborate on Clinical Development of ADH-1

Adherex Technologies has announced that the Drug Development Group of the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis has approved a Level III collaboration for the clinical development of the company's lead biotechnology compound ADH-1, also known as Exherin, provided additional preclinical studies be conducted.

The NCI, which is part of the NIH, approved a collaboration with Adherex following the formal review of existing preclinical and clinical data on ADH-1. As part of the collaboration, the NCI's developmental therapeutics program and cancer therapy evaluation program will negotiate a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with Adherex to sponsor clinical trials and additional preclinical studies of ADH-1.

These studies will further evaluate its anticancer and vascular targeting effects, both as a single agent and in combination with other agents in patients with advanced resistant cancers that express the molecular target N-cadherin. The exact design of the trials to be sponsored by the NCI will be determined after the execution of the CRADA.