HOUSTON, Dec. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Moleculin
Biotech, Inc., (Nasdaq: MBRX) ("Moleculin" or the "Company"), a
clinical stage pharmaceutical company with a broad portfolio of
drug candidates targeting highly resistant tumors, today announced
the presentation of a poster entitled, "Liposomal annamycin
inhibition of lung localized breast cancer," at the San Antonio
Breast Cancer Symposium held December
14 – 29, 2019.
"We now have another round of new key findings that we believe
support the potential expansion of Annamycin to indications beyond
acute leukemia," commented Walter
Klemp, Chairman and CEO of Moleculin. "Our ongoing sponsored
research at MD Anderson has now resulted in new patented
discoveries that clearly demonstrate unusually high activity of
Annamycin against lung metastatic cancers in animal models. This
activity is a direct result of surprisingly high uptake of
Annamycin by the lungs. The findings of experiments comparing
organ distribution of Annamycin with doxorubicin are quite
astonishing. We are seeing a 5 to 7-fold higher concentration of
Annamycin in lungs than in plasma and at least 5-fold higher than
that of doxorubicin. Doxorubicin, which is the current
standard of care for treatment for frequently occurring lung
metastases of such solid tumors as sarcoma, colorectal cancer,
breast cancer and bladder cancer, is unfortunately not effective
against such metastases, and consequently doxorubicin-based
therapies fail the vast majority of such patients. Our research
suggests that the surprisingly high activity of Annamycin in animal
models of lung metastases may be, in part, due to the high level of
accumulation of Annamycin in the lungs. We believe the tumor
growth inhibition and even tumor regression observed with Annamycin
might offer a new treatment option for patients with lung localized
cancers. This notion is also supported by previously observed high
activity of Annamycin against multidrug resistant tumors in animal
models and its lack of cardiotoxicity thus far supported by both
animal studies and clinical studies in humans."
"Importantly, the published poster, which can be found on our
web site at
https://www.moleculin.com/san-antonio-bc-symposium-poster/, shows
substantially increased survival in both triple negative breast
cancer and colon cancer lung metastases animal models," Mr. Klemp
added. "It should also be noted that treatment with Annamycin
resulted in long-term survival of a significant number of
animals. We're not just seeing a reduction in tumor growth,
but often a reversal of tumor activity resulting in an almost
complete reduction of tumor burden."
Mr. Klemp concluded, "We believe our research continues to
support the view that Annamycin has market potential far beyond the
treatment of acute leukemia as indicated by our ongoing US and
European clinical trials. The absence of cardiotoxicity being
demonstrated in those trials alone makes Annamycin a compelling
candidate to potentially replace doxorubicin in a number of
treatment settings. Furthermore, our new data, showing the ability
of Annamycin to accumulate at disproportionately high levels in the
lungs, suggests an opportunity to treat patients for whom the
standard of care is ineffective. If this capability can be
demonstrated in future human clinical trials, we believe Annamycin
may be able to fill the existing void of effective
chemotherapeutics for lung metastases and bring hope to a large
population of patients in the USA
and around the world, as the lungs are among the most common sites
of cancer metastases."
About Moleculin Biotech, Inc.
Moleculin Biotech, Inc. is a clinical stage pharmaceutical
company focused on the development of a broad portfolio of oncology
drug candidates for the treatment of highly resistant tumors. The
Company's clinical stage drugs are: Annamycin, a Next Generation
Anthracycline, designed to avoid multidrug resistance mechanisms
with little to no cardiotoxicity being studied for the treatment of
relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia, more commonly
referred to as AML, as well as distant metastases of solid tumors
that existing anthracyclines have difficulty affecting, WP1066, an
Immune/Transcription Modulator capable of inhibiting p-STAT3 and
other oncogenic transcription factors while also stimulating a
natural immune response, targeting brain tumors, pancreatic cancer
and hematologic malignancies, and WP1220, an analog to WP1066, for
the topical treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Moleculin is
also engaged in preclinical development of additional drug
candidates, including additional Immune/Transcription Modulators,
as well as compounds capable of Metabolism/Glycosylation
Inhibition.
For more information about the Company, please visit
http://www.moleculin.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements in this release are forward-looking
statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act
of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve
risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this press
release include, without limitation, the ability for Annamycin to
be an alternative to currently approved anthracyclines for treating
cancers other than AML. Although Moleculin believes that the
expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are
reasonable as of the date made, expectations may prove to have been
materially different from the results expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements. Moleculin Biotech has attempted to
identify forward-looking statements by terminology including
''believes,'' ''estimates,'' ''anticipates,'' ''expects,''
''plans,'' ''projects,'' ''intends,'' ''potential,'' ''may,''
''could,'' ''might,'' ''will,'' ''should,'' ''approximately'' or
other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to
identify these forward-looking statements. These statements are
only predictions and involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties, and other factors, including those discussed under
Item 1A. "Risk Factors" in our most recently filed Form 10-K filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and updated
from time to time in our Form 10-Q filings and in our other public
filings with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements
contained in this release speak only as of its date. We undertake
no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in
this release to reflect events or circumstances occurring after its
date or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. The
Company cautions investors not to place undue reliance on the
interim results announced today.
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SOURCE Moleculin Biotech, Inc.