Data for Oncothyreon's PX-12 and PX-866 presented at AACR Annual Meeting

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[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\nBELLEVUE, WA, April 16 /CNW/ - Oncothyreon Inc. (Nasdaq: ONTY) (TSX:ONY)\nannounced today that data from pharmacokinetic studies of PX-12 and\npreclinical studies of PX-866 were presented at the Annual Meeting of the\nAmerican Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in San Diego, held\nApril 12-16, 2008. Information from the studies may guide future clinical\ndevelopment plans for these product candidates. Oncothyreon is currently\nconducting a Phase 2 trial of PX-12 in patients with advanced pancreatic\ncancer and PX-866 is expected to enter a Phase 1 trial in patients with\nadvanced cancers in the second quarter of 2008.\n\n\nPX-12\n\n\nPX-12 is an irreversible inhibitor of thioredoxin (Trx)-1, a protein that\nis over-expressed in many tumor types and is associated with aggressive tumor\ngrowth and poor prognoses. In a previous Phase 1 study, PX-12 treatment\nlowered circulating levels of Trx-1 in patients and a Trx-1 decrease of 25% or\ngreater was associated with increased survival.\n\n\nThe current study examined Trx-1 levels in the serum of patients\nreceiving PX-12 in two ongoing clinical trials and in healthy volunteers, and\nthe data were reported in a poster session yesterday (Abstract No. 4453). Key\nfindings of the study are:\n\n\n- PX-12 reduced plasma Trx-1 levels in all patients with initial levels\n greater than 18 ng/mL, the upper limit of the normal range. Patients\n with normal Trx-1 levels remained in the normal range following PX-12\n treatment.\n\n- Thirty-three percent of patients with elevated Trx-1 levels achieved\n stable disease with PX-12 treatment. No patients achieved stable\n disease if their starting Trx-1 levels were within the normal range.\n\n\nTogether, these data suggest that patients with plasma Trx-1 levels above\nthe normal upper limit of 18 ng/mL may be more likely to benefit from\ntreatment with PX-12. Thus, Trx-1 levels could be used to select the most\nappropriate patients for future clinical trials of PX-12.\n\n\nPX-866\n\n\nPX-866 is a small molecule inhibitor of phosphotidylinositol-3 kinase\n(PI-3K), a key point of control of cellular responses including signaling of\ncell survival and growth, migration and metabolism. The PI-3K pathway is a key\ncontributing factor to a number of human cancers, particularly ovarian, head\nand neck, urinary tract, cervical, prostate, endomet...

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