Oncology Venture has submitted the APO010 screening protocol

Hoersholm, Denmark; December 18th, 2015 – Oncology Venture Sweden AB (OV:ST) announces that the screening protocol for APO010 in Multiple Myeloma (MM) has been submitted to the Ethics Committee. APO010 is a first in class FASLigand anticancer product in the immuno oncology field. OV will screen approximately 150 patients and identify 15 patients with the highest likelihood of benefit in the focused phase 2 multi center study. The Drug Response Predictor (DRP™) uses genomic information from the individual cancer patient’s tumor biopsy. This information is matched with the APO010 DRP™ based on scientific analysis on cell lines and more than 3000 cancer patients.

“I look very much forward to initiate the screening of Multiple Myeloma (MM) patients for eligibility for the phase 2 trial with APO010. MM is a hard to treat cancer disease in the blood where new treatments are needed. This new immune oncology product mimics our immune system and is a first in class product which we believe can become a new treatment option in the Multiple Myeloma indication, “ Said Adjunct professor Peter Buhl Jensen, M.D., CEO of Oncology Venture. “The APO010 is a FAS-ligand drug and only works when the FAS-receptor is there but this is not enough and OV use its DRP to find the high likelihood responders. OV will therefore screen the patients and include patients with the highest likelihood of response. I believe that the combination of a unique drug and a unique Drug Response Predictor technology gives a very high likelihood of success.” Peter Buhl further commented.

About Multiple Myeloma
Multiple myeloma (MM) is a systemic malignancy in the blood affecting plasma cells. The introduction of high-dose therapy with autologous 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.

About APO010
APO010 employing on immune oncology cell signaling strategy to kill cancer cells. APO010 is a novel chemotherapeutic agent that mimics cytotoxic T-lymphocyte signaling. The mechanism of action of APO010 is the specific induction of cell death in Fas-expressing cells through binding to the Fas receptor and activation of well-characterised Fas-mediated death-receptor pro-apoptotic pathway. A phase I study has previously been conducted including 26 patients. In this study the patients were not selected based on likelihood of benefit from APO010.

About the Drug Response Predictor (DRP™) screening tool
This method builds on the comparison of sensitive and resistant human cancer cell lines including genomic information from cell lines combined with clinical tumor biology and clinical correlates in a systems biology network.

For further information concerning Oncology Venture please contact:
Peter Buhl Jensen, CEO
Telephone: +45 21 60 89 22
E-mail: pbj@oncologyventure.com

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 a license to use Drug Response Prediction – DRP™ – 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 26 of the 32 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 are screened first 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.