On April 16, 2018 Cellectar Biosciences (Nasdaq: CLRB), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of drugs for the treatment of cancer, reported the presentation of CLR 131 preclinical data in a poster discussion entitled "Therapeutic Combination of Radiolabeled CLR1404 with External Beam Radiation in Head and Neck Cancer Murine Xenograft Models" at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting underway in Chicago (Press release, Cellectar Biosciences, APR 16, 2018, View Source [SID1234525338]). The discussion, hosted on Sunday, April 15, 2018 was led by Chunrong Li, assistant scientist, Department of Human Oncology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
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The purpose of the study was to evaluate the anti-tumor effect of CLR 131 in combination with external beam radiation (XRT). The results demonstrated uptake of CLR 131 across multiple head and neck cancer (HNC) cell lines and xenograft models, and synergistic anti-tumor effects when CLR 131 was combined with XRT. The combination of CLR 131 and fractionated XRT showed enhanced tumor growth inhibition compared with single modality treatment in the 6 HNC xenograft models. Importantly, the findings suggest potential efficacy using CLR 131 combined with reduced-dose XRT in HNC patients. High-dose XRT while effective for localized disease, produces significant co-morbidities for patients, especially those suffering from diffuse disease. The potential to reduce the XRT dose may also result in decreased toxicity to normal tissue, a common side effect of high-dose XRT.
As a key milestone of their Head and Neck SPORE Grant (NIH P50 DE026787), the University of Wisconsin-Madison is initiating the first human clinical trial combining CLR 131 and external beam radiation in patients with recurrent HNC in the second half of 2018. The costs associated with the Phase 1 study will be covered in their entirety through the grant and the study represents a fourth clinical trial using the company’s lead PDC, CLR 131.
"As we continue both preclinical and clinical evaluation of our lead cancer targeting compound CLR 131, our potential to meaningfully impact a broad range of cancers continues to grow," said James Caruso, chief executive officer of Cellectar Biosciences. "We are encouraged by the data highlighted at AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) showing enhanced receptivity to treatment and inhibition of tumor growth, while potentially reducing toxicities associated with current standard of care treatment."
About CLR 131
CLR 131 is Cellectar’s investigational radioiodinated PDC therapy that exploits the tumor-targeting properties of the company’s proprietary phospholipid ether (PLE) and PLE analogs to selectively deliver radiation to malignant tumor cells, thus minimizing radiation exposure to normal tissues. CLR 131, is in a Phase 2 clinical study in relapsed or refractory (R/R) MM and a range of B-cell malignancies and a Phase 1 clinical study in patients with (R/R) MM exploring fractionated dosing . In 2018 the company plans to initiate a Phase 1 study with CLR 131 in pediatric solid tumors and lymphoma, and a second Phase 1 study in combination with external beam radiation for head and neck cancer.