Drug response prediction in high-risk multiple myeloma – prediction of melphalan and bortezomib response

Hoersholm, Denmark – December 15th  2017 – Oncology Venture Sweden AB:s (OV:ST) (“Oncology Venture” or “OV”) and Medical Prognosis Institute (MPI.ST) (“and Medical Prognosis Institute” or “MPI”) announces that a publication under the title “Drug response prediction in high-risk multiple myeloma” is to be published in the scientific magazine “Gene” – the printed version is expected to be available in January 2018. The research behind the publication was done in collaboration between MPI/OV and the Department of Hematology and the Granulocyte Research Laboratory and Department of Clinical Genetics at the Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark and the Hematology-Oncology department at the Mount Sinai Hospital, NY, USA. In the publication it is demonstrated that the MPI’s Drug Response Predictor – DRP® - can predict sensitivity to melphalan (PFS prolonged) and bortezomib(PFS prolonged and better RR). The conclusion is: “This method (i.e. the DRP) may provide us with a tool for identifying candidates for effective personalized medicine and spare potential non-responders from suffering toxicity.”

Published mRNA data from 914 patients tisssue from four different studies of multiple myeloma was used to test wether the DRP score could predict drug sensitivity, progression free survival (PFS) and drug response in high-risk myeloma.

“This method may provide us with a tool for effective personalized medicine for myeloma and in particular patients with high-risk myeloma who have an unmet need for new treatment strategies,” Said Associate professor Annette Juul Vangsted, Senior Consultant, DMSc, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Department of Hematology 

“We are happy with this research result which further substantiates the usefulness of our proprietary Drug Response Prediction Technology. The products melphalan and bortezomib are important drugs in the treatment of multiple myeloma. Although the products are not within the OV/MPI pipeline it is adding to the concept of creating Personal Response Prediction tools which can be a weighty decision tool support to the clinicians and patients” comments CEO, MD Peter Buhl Jensen 

About Multiple Myeloma

Multiple Myeloma) is a systemic malignancy in the bone marrow, affecting plasma cells, a important cell of the immune system. The introduction of high-dose therapy with autologous hematopoietic stem cell support, and introduction of new therapies like the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib and IMIDs (thalidomide and lenalidomide) has improved the outcome. In spite of this, eventually all patients will experience progressive disease and continue into second and later lines of treatment. OV will approach this important clinical issue by introducing a novel systemic chemotherapeutic treatment together with a predictive biomarker test. Based on DRP™, APO010 will be developed for use in treatment of Multiple Myeloma.

About the DRP

Oncology Venture uses the Medical Prognosis Institute (MPI) multi gene DRP® technology to select those patients that, by the genetic signature in their cancer, is found to have a high likelihood of response to a given drug. The goal is to develop the drug for the right patients by screening patients before treatment, whereby the response rate can be significantly increased.  The DRP® method builds on the comparison of sensitive vs. resistant human cancer cell lines including genomic information from cell lines combined with clinical tumor biology and clinical correlates in a systems biology network. The DRP® is based on messenger RNA from the patients’ biopsies. The DRP® platform (i.e. the DRP® and the PRP™ biomarkers) can be used in all cancer types, and is patented for more than 70 anti-cancer drugs in the US. The PRP™ is commercialized by MPI for Personalized Medicine. The DRP® is commercialized by Oncology Venture for drug development.

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About Oncology Venture Sweden AB 

Oncology Venture Sweden AB is engaged in the research and development of anti-cancer drugs via its wholly owned Danish subsidiary Oncology Venture ApS. Oncology Venture has an exclusive license to use the Drug Response Predictor (DRP™) technology in order to significantly increase the probability of success in clinical trials. DRP™ has proven its ability to provide a statistically significant prediction of clinical outcomes from drug treatment in cancer patients in 29 of the 37 clinical studies that were examined. The Company uses a model that alters the odds in comparison with traditional pharmaceutical development. Instead of treating all patients with a particular type of cancer, patients’ tumors’ genes are screened first with DRP™ and only those who are most likely to respond to the treatment will be treated. Via a more well-defined patient group, the risk and costs are reduced while the development process becomes more efficient.

The current product portfolio: LiPlaCis® for breast cancer in collaboration with Cadila Pharmaceuticals; Irofulven developed from a fungus for prostate cancer; and APO010 – an immuno-oncology product for multiple myeloma.

Oncology Venture has spun out two companies in Special Purpose Vehicles: 2X Oncology Inc. a US-based company focusing on precision medicine for women’s cancers with a pipeline of three promising Phase 2 product candidates, and Danish OV-SPV 2 which will test and potentially develop the Novartis small molecule kinase inhibitor. Oncology Venture currently owns 92% of 2X Oncology Inc. and 40% of OV-SPV2 ApS.