Aprea AB Receives Allowance of a Key Patent in US and Europe

2009-11-25

STOCKHOLM - November 25, 2009. Aprea AB today announced that both the European and the US Patent Office's intend to grant a key patent application related to the Company´s intellectual property on its candidate drug APR-246. The patent will provide strong protection for pharmaceutical use of APR-246 for the treatment of cancer. Aprea AB is first to gain patent protection with this class of compounds. The patent also includes full product protection of key backup compounds APR-310, APR-305 and APR-304, which have shown promising oral bioavailability in in vivo cancer models.

"Allowance of this patent in both Europe and the US strengthens our efforts in developing a competitive pharmaceutical product," says Thomas Uhlin, Aprea's Chief Executive Officer. "I am convinced that our product candidate has the potential to fulfill an important medical need. "

APR-246 belongs to a new chemical class of anticancer drugs (quinuclidinones) and is currently being tested in a phase I/II study on refractory hematological malignancies and prostate cancer. The study is conducted at six clinics in Sweden and will in total comprise about 25 patients. APR-246 is Aprea AB´s first drug candidate and has been shown to induce apoptosis in various cancer cell lines. It was selected as Candidate Drug due to its drugable properties and unique pharmacological profile. APR-246 has been tested in a full non-clinical safety package and has shown no toxicity at predicted therapeutic plasma levels. This profile is supported by the tumor specific properties shown in ex vivo studies where APR-246 preferentially targets tumor patient cells over normal cells. The target mechanism involves refolding of dysfunctional p53 protein which results in induction of apoptosis. Reactivation of p53 by APR-246 represents a novel approach for the treatment of patients with tumors carrying a genetic abnormality associated with a very poor prognosis. Importantly, APR-246 has shown synergistic effects when given in combination to conventional chemotherapy.