Clinical-stage company OncoMed Pharmaceuticals has presented encouraging data from an ongoing Phase I solid tumour trial of the first-in-class Wnt pathway-targeting antibody vantictumab.
Vantictumab, a monoclonal antibody that is tolerable up to the current dose of 10mg/kg every three weeks, showed evidence of anti-tumour activity in the solid tumor study.
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Vantictumab demonstrated pharmacodynamic effects on the Wnt pathway in patient samples, and three patients with neuroendocrine tumours showed prolonged stable disease for 110, 316+ and 385+ days.
OncoMed chief executive officer Paul Hastings said the preclinical and clinical data for vantictumab highlights the potential of targeting the Wnt pathway in cancer and particularly in cancer stem cells.
"We have made excellent progress with vantictumab and our other clinical program targeting the Wnt pathway, Fzd8-Fc (OMP-54F28)," Hastings said.
"With ongoing clinical trials with five novel drug candidates in two key pathways, Notch and Wnt, OncoMed is leading the way in the development of anti-cancer stem cell therapies."
Optimised to block a key signalling pathway in cancer, vantictumab selectively targets activators of Wnt-signaling, Frizzled receptors.
The investigational antibody exhibited broad anti-cancer stem cell and anti-tumour activity in xenograft tumour models derived from patients.
Bone heath was also ensured through a bone protection strategy.
The monoclonal antibody will be advanced into three Phase Ib trials in specific tumour indications later in 2013 to assess its safety profile in chemotherapy combinations.
