MARSEILLE, France & HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vect-Horus and RadioMedix announced today the signing of a Letter of Intent (LOI) to establish an agreement for the co-development of a Vect-Horus theranostic agent for the diagnostic and radiotherapy of Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) of the brain.
This partnership will marry the expertise of Vect-Horus in targeting tumors with its technology VECTrans® and the know-how of RadioMedix in developing and conducting pre-clinical evaluation and clinical trials with radiopharmaceuticals.
GBM is the most common and most aggressive malignant type of primary brain tumors and is a serious and life-threatening condition. The theranostic agent targets the Low-Density Lipoprotein Receptor (LDLR), which is highly expressed on many cancer cells, including glioblastoma. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging and biodistribution studies in human glioblastoma xenograft and orthotopic models have shown a significant accumulation of the agent within the tumor.
“We are pleased that our technology, VECTrans® in combination with
expertise of RadioMedix will serve to advance an innovative and
promising approach for glioblastoma treatment.” said Alexandre
Tokay, CEO of Vect-Horus “This co-development project is fully
aligned with our strategy to expand the use of our technology in cancer
indications with high unmet medical needs."
“We look
forward to very compelling outcomes from our co-development project, as
we seek to create new technologies for the benefit of cancer patients,
by giving doctors and hospitals more imaging and treatment options."
Said Dr Jamal Temsamani, Director of Drug Development of Vect-Horus.
“Development of a highly sensitive and effective theranostic approach for GBM has always been among our top priorities. Our initial evaluation of VECTrans® technology appears to be extremely promising.” said Dr Ebrahim Delpassand, CEO of RadioMedix. “Our plan is to utilize VECTrans® technology to initially develop an accurate molecular diagnostic PET/CT probe to precisely map the tumor involvement in the brain. This will significantly improve precision of the surgical resection of the tumor. The treatment will then be followed by targeted alpha-emitter or beta-emitter radionuclide therapy using the same technology to eradicate any residual malignant cells at the molecular level” added Dr. Delpassand.
“RadioMedix has strong interests and all expertise needed to develop the VECTrans®–based radio-theranostic agents for GBM”, said Izabela Tworowska, PhD, CSO of RadioMedix. “Targeting LDLR can improve the blood -brain barrier (BBB) permeability of the drug and selectively deliver the isotope payload to GBM cancer cells.”
About Vect-Horus
Vect-Horus designs and develops vectors
that facilitate targeting and delivery of therapeutic or imaging agents
to organs, including the brain and tumors. Vect-Horus combines these
different agents to its vectors that specifically target various
receptors, allowing these agents to cross natural barriers (including
the blood-brain-barrier) which limit access of therapeutic or imaging
agents to their targets. The proof of concept of the technology has
already been established in animal models using different vectorized
molecules.
Created in 2005, Vect-Horus is a spin-off of the
Institute for Neurophysiopathology (INP, UMR7051, CNRS and Aix Marseille
University), headed by Dr Michel Khrestchatisky, co-founder. To learn
more about Vect-Horus, visit www.vect-horus.com.
About RadioMedix
RadioMedix, Inc. is a clinical stage
biotechnology company, based in Houston, Texas, focused on innovative
targeted radiopharmaceuticals for diagnosis, monitoring, and therapy of
cancer. The company is developing radiopharmaceuticals for PET imaging
and therapy (alpha and beta-labeled). RadioMedix has also established
contract service facilities for academic and industrial partners
including discovery center for the probe development, a small animal
molecular imaging facility for pre-clinical evaluation of
radiopharmaceuticals, and full cGMP and analytical suites for late stage
human clinical trials, and post approval commercial manufacturing. To
learn more, visit www.radiomedix.com
and LinkedIn.
