We are a drug discovery and development company that is committed to leveraging our innovative signaling pathway drug technologies in seeking to develop next generation targeted cancer therapies. Biological signaling pathways, also referred to as signaling pathways, are prominent regulators of specific tissue and organ formation during prenatal development and are used by the body throughout life to repair and regulate human tissue. The ability to modulate certain signaling pathways is of great interest to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies as many diseases and disorders, including many cancers, are now known to be associated with components of these signaling pathways. We are building upon our experience in modulating signaling pathways, including the Hedgehog signaling pathway, in our effort to develop our targeted cancer therapies. We conduct our research programs both internally and through strategic collaborations.
Our most advanced program is our Hedgehog pathway inhibitor program under collaboration with Genentech, Inc., a wholly-owned member of the Roche Group. The lead drug candidate being developed under this program is GDC-0449, a first-in-class orally-administered small molecule Hedgehog pathway inhibitor. The Hedgehog pathway is normally active during embroyonic development and regulates tissue and organ formation. Malignant activation of the hedgehog pathway is believed to play a central role in the proliferation and survival of certain cancer cells, including in basal cell carcinoma, or BCC, as well as colorectal, ovarian, small cell lung, pancreatic and breast cancers among others. Genentech and Roche are currently conducting three clinical trials of GDC-0449, including a pivotal phase II trial in advanced BCC that was initiated in February 2009 and two phase II clinical trials of GDC-0449, in metastatic colorectal cancer and in advanced ovarian cancer, which were initiated in 2008.
In addition to the ongoing clinical trials that Genentech and Roche are conducting, Genentech and the National Cancer Institute, or NCI, entered into a collaborative relationship that allows the NCI to study GDC-0449 in additional potential cancer indications. Under this arrangement with NCI, third-party investigators began enrolling patients in a phase I clinical trial that is designed to evaluate dose and safety of GDC-0449 in young patients with medulloblastoma and a phase II clinical trial to test the molecule in adult medulloblastoma patients. A phase I clinical trial in pancreatic cancer patients and randomized phase II clinical trials in small cell lung cancer and advanced stomach or gastroesophageal junction cancer patients were also initiated and an additional phase II study is planned in glioblastoma multiforme patients under this NCI arrangement.
Furthermore, an investigator-sponsored study evaluating GDC-0449 in patients with basal cell nevus (Gorlin) syndrome has been initiated.
Our internal drug development efforts are focused on our targeted cancer programs that seek to inhibit multiple signaling pathways simultaneously. We believe that this approach of targeting multiple nodes in cancer signaling pathway networks may provide a better therapeutic effect than many of the cancer drugs currently marketed or in development since we believe that we are disrupting the cancer network environment in several additional important targets when compared to other cancer drugs.
Our lead candidate from these programs is CUDC-101, a small molecule compound that is currently in a dose escalation phase I clinical trial and is the first-in-class compound designed to simultaneously target histone deacetylase, or HDAC, epidermal growth factor receptor, or EGFR, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, or Her2, all of which are validated cancer targets. We have treated 25 patients to date in this study and estimate that we will establish and confirm our maximum tolerated dose and complete this dose escalation study in the first half of 2010. We also expect that we will select another molecule from our preclinical portfolio as a development candidate in 2010.
In July 2008, we selected CUDC-305 as a development candidate from our targeted cancer programs. CUDC-305 was developed as a heat shock protein 90, or Hsp90, inhibitor. Hsp90 is a molecular chaperone protein that plays a role in cell signaling and it is believed that Hsp90 plays a significant role in the proliferation of cancer cells. In August 2009, we granted a worldwide, exclusive royalty-bearing license to our Hsp90 inhibitor technology, including CUDC-305 to Debiopharm S.A., a Swiss pharmaceutical development company, or Debiopharm. CUDC-305 has been renamed Debio 0932 by Debiopharm. Debiopharm assumed all future development responsibility and will incur all future costs related to the development, registration and commercialization of products under the agreement, including Debio 0932. Debiopharm plans to open a phase I clinical trial evaluating the safety of Debio 0932 in patients suffering from advanced solid tumors or lymphoma during the second quarter of 2010.
Product Development Programs
We are developing drug candidates designed to treat cancer. Our product development initiatives, described in the chart below, are being pursued using our internal resources or through our collaborations with Genentech and Debiopharm. We believe that our collaborators provide significant additional resources and clinical development expertise to our programs. In addition, under these collaborations our collaborators have agreed to pay us contingent cash payments assuming the achievement of development and regulatory objectives and royalties on future product sales, if any.
Hedgehog Pathway Inhibitor Program
The Hedgehog pathway is normally active during embryonic development and regulates tissue and organ formation by directly promoting cell division in specific cell types, and by activating other secondary signaling pathways that control the synthesis of growth factors and angiogenic (blood vessel-forming) factors. Malignant activation of the Hedgehog pathway is believed to play a central role in allowing the proliferation and survival of cancer cells, including basal cell carcinoma and medulloblastoma as well as colorectal, ovarian, pancreatic, small cell lung and breast cancers, among others.
Our Hedgehog pathway inhibitor technologies represent our most advanced program and are being developed in various cancer indications under a June 2003 collaboration agreement with Genentech. The lead drug candidate being developed under this program is GDC-0449, a first-in-class orally-administered small molecule Hedgehog pathway inhibitor. Genentech and Roche are responsible for the clinical development and commercialization of GDC-0449 and are currently conducting three clinical trials of GDC-0449, including a pivotal phase II trial in advanced BCC that was initiated in February 2009.
Our Proprietary Targeted Cancer Programs
Over the past several years, targeted cancer drugs have been considered among the most promising cancer treatments for obtaining a therapeutic effect with less toxicity when compared with traditional chemotherapy, which, in addition to attacking cancerous cells, also tends to attack a broad range of healthy cells. A large body of published data shows cancers to have multiple, intersecting signaling pathways that support survival, growth, and invasion. Targeting only one or two of these pathways with single-targeted agents has generally only led to modest improvements to existing standards-of-care and most cancer patients with solid tumors do not respond in a clinically meaningful manner. Targeting the correct combination of critical signaling pathways within the network of cancer cell signaling pathways could provide a major improvement in outcomes for cancer patients and is an area of intense research and development.
CUDC-101
CUDC-101 is the first compound we have selected as a drug candidate from our targeted cancer programs. CUDC-101 is designed as a first-in-class therapeutic to simultaneously inhibit HDAC, EGFR and Her2. In preclinical studies, CUDC-101 demonstrated the potential to inhibit all three molecular targets resulting in the potent killing of a wide range of cancer cell lines that are representative of a variety of human cancer types, many of which have demonstrated resistance to various approved targeted agents.
Debio 0932 (formerly CUDC-305)
In July 2008, we selected CUDC-305, an Hsp90 inhibitor, as a development candidate from our targeted cancer programs. Hsp90 is a member of a class of proteins called molecular chaperones that play a fundamental role in the folding, stabilization and degradation of other cellular proteins, or clients, under normal or stressful conditions. Hsp90, in particular, has become an attractive therapeutic target for the treatment of cancer because a majority of its client proteins are involved in cellular signaling transduction and have been identified as potential contributors to various aspects of cancer cell growth and survival. Inhibitors of Hsp90 activity may be of therapeutic value if they can prevent Hsp90 proteins from protecting the particular client proteins involved in cancer and allow them to be degraded, thereby inducing cancer cell death. In our preclinical studies, CUDC-305 demonstrated potent efficacy across a broad range of cancers in preclinical cancer models and exhibited promising pharmacological features in preclinical testing, particularly its high oral bioavailability, high tumor penetration and extended tumor retention. Tumor regression was also observed after treatment of CUDC-305 in mouse xenograft models of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), breast, non-small cell lung, gastric and colon cancers as well as in glioblastoma brain cancers. In our preclinical testing, the compound also demonstrated an ability to effectively cross the blood brain barrier, and demonstrated an ability to extend survival in a preclinical intracranial glioblastoma and brain mestastasis models.
Other Targeted Cancer Programs
We are also seeking to advance several other small molecule drug candidates from our targeted cancer programs and we anticipate that we will select a compound from one of these programs as a development candidate in 2010.