TSX Venture: QPT
EDMONTON,
Nov. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ - Quest
PharmaTech Inc. (TSX-V: QPT) ("Quest" or the "Company"), a
pharmaceutical company developing and commercializing products for
the treatment of cancer, announces the presentation of a
late-breaking abstract at the 28th Annual Meeting of the
Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) on November 9, 2013 in Maryland, U.S. The work was jointly
developed by Stanford University, AIT
Strategies and Quest as continuation of
an exclusive license agreement between Stanford University and Quest to develop and market anti-MUC1 IgE
technology for the treatment of cancer.
The title of the presentation is "MUC1 Specific IgE
to Modify Myeloid Derived Cells of the Tumor Microenvironment". The
licensed technology was developed by a team led by Joseph Mollick, M.D., Ph.D., formerly of
Stanford University, and covers the use
of immunotherapeutic IgE in development for treatment of patients
with malignancies expressing the tumor-associated antigen MUC1,
which is associated with cancer of the pancreas, colon, breast,
lung, ovary, as well as multiple myeloma and others.
Dr, Mollick details the potential of the novel
molecule to reprogram myeloid cells in the tumor microenvironment,
leading to elimination of tumours and prevention of metastases. At
the same time, the antibody can activate specific cellular immune
responses directed against MUC1 originating in the tumor.
Quest is focusing
its commercial efforts in the area of antibody mediated cancer
immunotherapy with both IgG and IgE products. The Company recently
licensed an anti-PSA IgE technology from the University of California at Los Angeles and
Advanced Immune Therapeutics, Inc. Quest is currently conducting preclinical studies
on anti-MUC1 IgE at the University of Nebraska
Medical Center through a sponsored research contract to
Professor Michael A. Hollingsworth.
Quest also holds numerous patents for
the use of tumor associated monoclonal antibodies as immune
modulators. "Both IgG and IgE technologies are complementary and
provide a novel approach for enhancing the effectiveness of
chemotherapy while activating specific immunity to fight the
cancer" commented Dr. Madi R.
Madiyalakan, CEO of the Company.
About Quest PharmaTech Inc.
Quest PharmaTech is a publicly traded, Canadian
based clinical stage company developing a portfolio of product
candidates for the treatment of cancer by combining
immunotherapeutic antibodies with chemotherapy, immune-adjuvants
and photodynamic therapy. Quest has a
body of clinical experience and a new appreciation of the obstacles
and potential of combinatorial immunotherapeutic approaches to
cancer by using either immunoglobulin G or E as immune modulators
to enhance tumor specific immunity and clinical outcome.
The most advanced of its product candidates is
oregovomab, an anti-CA125 monoclonal antibody, in combination with
front-line chemotherapy for the treatment of advanced ovarian
cancer which is currently undergoing a phase IIb clinical trial in
12 centers in Italy and the U.S.
The Company's MUC1 program that has already undergone a phase I
clinical trial has the potential to permit tumor specific
immunization in more than 70% of all cancers that kill.
Quest is also conducting a phase I
clinical trial for the treatment of prostate cancer, with its
photosensitizer, SL052.
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SOURCE Quest PharmaTech Inc.