Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. (TASE:CFBI) has successfully completed preclinical trials in the US for its CF102 molecule, the basis for a liver cancer and hepatitis treatment. CF102 is the company’s second molecule in the development pipeline.
The successful trial will enable the company to apply to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a Phase I human clinical trial, which the company believes will begin in a few months.
Can-Fite VP drug development Dr. William D. Kerns said, “We’ve completed the preclinical trials needed for the submission of an investigational new drug (IND) application to the FDA during the fourth quarter, and we’ll begin the Phase I human clinical trial in the US immediately after obtaining approval. The preclinical trials in the US and Europe examined the level of secretion of the drug from the blood, metabolism and toxicity.”
Can-Fite CEO Prof. Pnina Fishman said, “We’re very pleased by the rapid and important progress in the development of CF102, and by the impressive results of the preclinical trial.”
Can-Fite will have two drugs undergoing clinical trials when the trial for CF102 begins. CF102 targets the Adenosine A3 receptor (A3AR), which is highly expressed in various tumor cell types and pathological inflammatory cells but has low expression levels in adjacent normal tissue. The preclinical trial showed that CF102 kills the targeted tumor cells (a process called apoptosis). The company’s CF101 molecule targets A3AR to treat rheumatoid arthritis.
Can-Fite notes that liver cancer affects 450,000 persons a year, and that 350 million people have hepatitis B and 170 million people have hepatitis C, and rising rapidly. The current hepatitis market amounts to $3 billion.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on August 19, 2007
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