HOUSTON, June 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Moleculin Biotech,
Inc., (Nasdaq: MBRX) ("Moleculin" or the "Company"), a clinical
stage pharmaceutical company with a broad portfolio of drug
candidates targeting highly resistant tumors and viruses, today
announced a presentation at the American Association of Cancer
Research (AACR) Annual Meeting held from June 22nd-24th, 2020,
illustrating a unique approach to creating drugs capable of
reaching tumors hiding in organs where existing anticancer drugs
cannot accumulate in therapeutic concentrations. A poster
presentation entitled, "Targeting Cancer Sanctuary Sites: A Novel
Approach to the Treatment of Lung Localized Tumors," provided an
overview of data demonstrating that uniquely high uptake and
retention of Annamycin in the lungs results in consistently high in
vivo activity against wide range of lung-localized tumors in
mice.
"We are very encouraged by this data, as we believe it further
demonstrates Annamycin's anti-cancer activity against tumors that
evade therapies that may be initially effective in their primary
location of origin, but are protected by metastasis to sanctuary
organs. In the case of sarcomas treated with the current
standard of care, doxorubicin, tumors may be initially responsive
in their primary location, but become unresponsive after metastasis
to the lungs, which eventually becomes the most likely cause of
patients' death," commented Walter
Klemp, Chairman and CEO of Moleculin. "This research also
sheds light on why doxorubicin, the current standard of care for
many types of cancer, is not effective against lung-localized
cancer. Subsequently, we believe that Annamycin's ability in
animal models to effectively accumulate in the lungs without
noticeable side effects offers unique therapeutic opportunities
that should be explored for the benefit of cancer patients with
lung-localized tumors."
Mr. Klemp concluded: "One of the reasons we are so excited about
Annamycin's potential to treat lung-localized tumors is its ability
in animal models to accumulate in the lungs and lack of toxic side
effects related to the high lung accumulation. This was once again
confirmed by the data, as Annamycin accumulated in the lungs at
nearly 6 times the level of doxorubicin. Importantly, Annamycin's
ability to accumulate in the lungs also led to high anti-tumor
activity, which ranged from the inhibition of tumor progression to
complete tumor eradication, resulting in significant improvement of
survival in all the models tested. We look forward to exploring
Annamycin's clinical potential to target tumors localized in the
lungs, one of the most common sites of cancer metastasis."
The accepted abstract stated, "The high cytotoxic potency of
Annamycin against MDR cancer cells is related, in part, to its
ability to overcome ABC transporter-mediated efflux and, in
contrast to doxorubicin, achieve high intracellular uptake. A
greatly increased concentration of Annamycin in the lung, as
compared to doxorubicin, leads to high drug efficacy in vivo in
lung-localized tumor models. In summary, our studies (1) support
the hypothesis of lungs being a sanctuary site for cancer cells and
(2) demonstrate that effective targeting of cancers metastatic to
the lung is possible by chemical modification of clinically used
but currently ineffective drugs, especially in combination with
appropriate drug delivery. In more general terms, these studies
indicate that the proposed approach can also lead to the
identification and elimination of cancer sanctuary sites other than
the lungs and creation of more effective anticancer therapies."
About Moleculin Biotech, Inc.
Moleculin Biotech, Inc. is a clinical stage pharmaceutical
company focused on the development of a broad portfolio of oncology
drug candidates for the treatment of highly resistant tumors and
viruses. The Company's clinical stage drugs are: Annamycin, a Next
Generation Anthracycline, designed to avoid multidrug resistance
mechanisms with little to no cardiotoxicity, being studied for the
treatment of relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia, more
commonly referred to as AML; WP1066, an Immune/Transcription
Modulator capable of inhibiting p-STAT3 and other oncogenic
transcription factors while also stimulating a natural immune
response, being studied for brain tumors, pancreatic cancer and
hematologic malignancies; and WP1220, an analog to WP1066, being
studied for the topical treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.
Moleculin is also engaged in preclinical development of additional
drug candidates, including additional Immune/Transcription
Modulators, as well as compounds capable of
Metabolism/Glycosylation Inhibition, such as WP1122. Moleculin has
the exclusive worldwide rights (subject to certain territories for
which it has issued sublicenses) to all of the above
technologies.
For more information about the Company, please visit
http://www.moleculin.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements in this release are forward-looking
statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act
of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve
risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this press
release include, without limitation, the ability of Annamycin to
show safety and efficacy in patients with lung metastases. Although
Moleculin believes that the expectations reflected in such
forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the date made,
expectations may prove to have been materially different from the
results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
Moleculin Biotech has attempted to identify forward-looking
statements by terminology including ''believes,'' ''estimates,''
''anticipates,'' ''expects,'' ''plans,'' ''projects,'' ''intends,''
''potential,'' ''may,'' ''could,'' ''might,'' ''will,'' ''should,''
''approximately'' or other words that convey uncertainty of future
events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements.
These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown
risks, uncertainties, and other factors, including those discussed
under Item 1A. "Risk Factors" in our most recently filed Form 10-K
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and
updated from time to time in our Form 10-Q filings and in our other
public filings with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements
contained in this release speak only as of its date. We undertake
no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in
this release to reflect events or circumstances occurring after its
date or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
Contacts
James Salierno
/ Carol Ruth
The Ruth Group
646-536-7028 /
7000
jsalierno@theruthgroup.com
cruth@theruthgroup.com
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SOURCE Moleculin Biotech, Inc.