On July 19, 2018 GT Biopharma Inc. (GTBP) and (Euronext Paris: GTBP.PA) reported a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) between a Major Pharmaceutical Company and Dr. Daniel Vallera, Director, Section of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics at the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota (Press release, GT Biopharma , JUL 19, 2018, View Source [SID1234539527]).
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Under the terms of the agreement, this Major Pharmaceutical Company will supply a formulation of their multibillion dollar, widely prescribed oncology drug, which has been approved for use in several hematologic malignancies to Dr. Vallera to be used in this study.
Dr. Vallera is the lead researcher for GT Biopharma’s bispecific antibody drug conjugate (ADC) program, and the innovator of oncology drug candidate DT2219, also known as OXS-1550. OXS-1550 targets two antigens on cancer cells and contains a cytotoxic payload thereby increasing the probability it will kill the cancer cells. OXS-1550 targets cancer cells expressing the CD19 receptor and/or CD22 receptors which includes B-cell leukemias and lymphomas and has a modified form of diphtheria toxin (DT390) as its cytotoxic drug payload. After OXS-1550 binds to cancer cells, it is taken in by the cancer cells and subsequently deploy its cytotoxic diphtheria toxin payload which inhibits protein synthesis and kills the cancer cells.
Initial pre-clinical work performed by Dr. Vallera suggests a much greater effect when OXS-1550 is given in combination with this established oncology drug. Dr. Vallera said: "I am looking forward to conducting these experiments. Early work suggests that these two agents would be a great combination in the treatment of certain cancers. This initial work will assist us in deciding what tumors to target and the doses to employ."
GT Biopharma’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr. Raymond Urbanski said: "This is a tremendous step forward for the OXS-1550 program. Pre-clinical data suggests that the combination of OXS-1550 and this agent is highly potent against certain tumor cell lines. This MTA will allow further studies in animal models to both confirm the effects as well as ascertain which tumor types are the most susceptible to this potent combination."