INEX PRESENTS DATA SHOWING POTENTIAL OF INX-0167 IN CANCER

Inex Pharmaceuticals has presented preclinical data confirming earlier studies that its proprietary lead product candidate INX-0167 provides a strong immune response that translates into a dramatic enhancement in the antitumor activity of the monoclonal antibodies Rituxan or Herceptin.

The data, presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology, also showed that INX-0167 was able to stimulate higher levels of immune response in a study of nonhuman primates than CpG7909 (ProMune), an immune system stimulating drug in late-stage clinical trials as a treatment for lung cancer.

The ability of INX-0167 to induce immune responses in nonhuman primates as judged by enhanced plasma cytokine, chemokine and growth factor levels in cynomolgus monkeys was assessed compared with the primate-optimized CpG7909. Treatment with INX-0167 induced higher levels of a number of cytokines and chemokines, including IL1Ra, IL-6 and MCP1, than produced by CpG7909. INX-0167 also increased the number of activated immune cells, including NK cells and T-lymphocytes, as compared with CpG7909.

The ability of INX-0167 to enhance the antitumour activity of Rituxan was evaluated in a human B-cell lymphoma xenograft model. Treatment with Rituxan alone had little effect on median survival, while INX-0167 alone prolonged survival by 110 percent. However, combining both INX-0167 and Rituxan resulted in a synergistic response, increasing the life span of treated animals by more than 500 percent. The ability of INX-0167 to enhance the antitumor activity of Herceptin was evaluated in a murine tumor model expressing Her2/neu. Treatment with Herceptin alone had no effect while INX-0167 alone prolonged survival by only 60 percent. However, a combination of both resulted in a synergistic response, increasing life span by more than 600 percent.