Source: OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Date: January 10, 2011
Summary:
OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a company developing novel therapeutics that target cancer stem cells, today announced that patient dosing has commenced in a Phase 1 clinical trial of OMP-59R5 in patients with advanced solid tumor cancers.
OMP-59R5 is a monoclonal antibody that binds selected Notch receptors and is the first antibody to specifically block these targets to enter human studies. The Phase 1 clinical trial of OMP-59R5 is a single-agent study designed to evaluate the safety of escalating doses of OMP-59R5 in patients who have received prior treatment with standard chemotherapeutics. The study will also assess pharmacokinetics, biomarkers and initial indications of efficacy. The Phase 1 trial is being conducted at leading U.S. cancer treatment centers. Preclinical studies have demonstrated that OMP-59R5 decreases the frequency of tumor-initiating cells across a variety of tumor types.
