Actinium Initiates Development of Antibody for Hematologic Malignancies
Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. initiated development of an additional antibody construct labeled with actinium-225. The antibody has potential to be used in treatment of a number of blood cancers. Preclinical work for this additional antibody will be conducted at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. A significant amount of both clinical and preclinical data for the antibody labeled with other payloads is available from numerous clinical trials in a number of indications.
“We continue to work with leading institutions, including Memorial Sloan Kettering, to leverage the broad utility of our alpha particle immunotherapy platform, a highly potent and selective form of targeted radiotherapy, to address significant unmet patient need in various cancer types,” said Dr. Kaushik J. Dave, President and CEO of Actinium Pharmaceuticals. “Clinical trials of drug candidates based on alpha-emitting isotopes have demonstrated significant efficacy with minimal side effects in blood-borne cancers, in metastases of solid cancers and in residual disease in solid cancers post-surgery. If successful, we believe this approach will further expand the field of use of alpha emitters.”
Arming a versatile antibody with actinium-225 will allow further customization of treatment in various blood cancer indications and its use in expanded clinical settings due to very low levels of radiation exposure to medical personnel, other caregivers, and environment. Pending successful results of the preclinical work, development will continue in clinical trials.
Alpha emitters deposit higher energy over a much shorter distance compared with beta emitters, providing single-cell kill while sparing normal surrounding tissue. Increased cell-specific potency may provide less off-target toxicity, resulting in an approach that decreases relapse rates and is better tolerated by patients. Alpha emitters may prove particularly useful for minimal-residual disease or extramedullary disease (located outside of the bone marrow), as well as in the non-hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) setting, if conjugated/connected to select target antigens.
Actinium-225 decays by giving off high-energy alpha particles, which kill cancer cells. When actinium decays, it produces a series of daughter atoms, each of which gives off its own alpha particle, increasing the chances that the cancer cell will be destroyed. The technology was first demonstrated at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a New York-based biopharmaceutical company developing innovative targeted payload immunotherapeutics for the treatment of advanced cancers. Actinium’s targeted radiotherapy is based on its proprietary delivery platform for the therapeutic utilization of alpha-emitting actinium-225 and bismuth-213 and certain beta-emitting radiopharmaceuticals in conjunction with monoclonal antibodies. For more information, visit www.actiniumpharma.com.
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