Kancera’s ROR-inhibitor provides higher specificity than competing products

2012-02-10

On February 8th Kancera’s CEO, Dr. Thomas Olin, presented the company and  new data in its ROR inhibitor project on the “6th Swiss-Scandinavian Bio-Business Seminar” in Zurich.

In his presentation Dr. Olin described how Kancera, in collaboration with researchers at the Karolinska Institutet,  in preclinical studies has demonstrated that the company’s ROR-targeted drugs kill patient-derived leukemia cells with significantly higher specificity than three competing drug candidates directed against other molecular targets in the cancer cell (PI3Kδ, BTK and Syk).

Kancera presents the project at the “6th Swiss-Scandinavian Bio-Business Seminar” on February 8, 2012, in Zurich, Switzerland.

“It is encouraging that Kancera’s ROR substances compare favorably with these competitors, given that drug candidates directed against BTK and PI3Kδ have been out-licensed by biotech companies to pharmaceutical companies at attractive terms in the last 12 months,” said Thomas Olin.

The presentation also highlights how Kancera’s ROR-active substances exert their effect inside the cancer cell. This provides important guidance on how drug candidates will work to reach the desired effect in patients.

Kancera have previously reported that the company’s active substances against ROR is 25 times more specific than fludarabine, the most common drug used today to treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

Kancera also reported results showing that the amount of activated ROR is high in aggressive cancer cells from the pancreas and Kancera’s active substances kill these cells in laboratory experiments. The effect is seen already within two days from start of the experimental treatment.

About the ROR-project
ROR consists of a family of proteins that gives cells signals for growth and survival, so-called receptors. Originally ROR was linked to fetus development, but now we know that they also play a role in the growth and spread of cancer cells. The ROR family consists of two receptors, ROR-1 and ROR-2. Due to the fact that ROR receptors mainly generate a survival and development signal in tumor cells, but are not active in healthy cells in adults, it is likely that a drug that targets ROR will attack a tumor much more forcefully than healthy tissue. Kancera’s founders and other scientists have also reported that blocking ROR results in certain cancer cells eliminating themselves through cellular suicide. Based on this, there is reason to assume that a ROR-targeted drug is both safer and more effective than the unselective types of chemotherapy used to treat cancer today.

About Kancera AB (publ)
Kancera is engaged in drug development that takes its start in with new treatment concepts and ends with a drug candidate. Kancera is currently developing projects for the treatment of leukemia and projects directed at the cancer’s ability to generate energy to survive. Kancera is also developing stem cell-based cancer models to study the candidate molecules before testing in humans. Kancera operates in Stockholm and employs approximately 20 people. The share is traded on the NASDAQ OMX First North and the number of shareholders is about one thousand. Remium AB is Certified Adviser to Kancera.

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