ROCKVILLE, Md.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE MKT: RNN) a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing best-in-class therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, today announced that it will have two poster presentations at the 2014 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting. The conference will take place in San Diego, California, on April 5-9, 2014 at the San Diego Convention Center.
The first poster entitled, “A novel small molecule cytidine analog, RX-3117, shows potent efficacy in xenograft models, even in tumors that are resistant to treatment with gemcitabine,” will be presented on Sunday, April 6, 2014, during the “Experimental and Molecular Therapeutics 6” poster session from 1:00 pm — 5:00 pm in Hall A-E, Poster Section 34. The second poster entitled, “Synthesis of targeted docetaxel-polymer conjugate and its anti-tumor efficacy,” for RX-21101 will be presented on Tuesday, April 8, 2014, during the “Chemistry 8” poster session from 1:00 pm — 5:00 pm in Hall A-E, Poster Section 27.
Peter D. Suzdak, Ph.D., CEO of Rexahn, commented, “The inhibition of tumor growth produced by RX-3117 in human cancer cells already resistant to gemcitabine is a very important finding. Approximately 25% of patients treated with gemcitabine become resistant after one cycle of therapy, representing a large unmet medical need and a significant opportunity for the clinical development and potential commercialization of RX-3117.” Rexahn initiated a Phase Ib clinical trial of RX-3117 in cancer patients with solid tumors in January 2014.
RX-21101 is the first development candidate derived from the Company’s Nano-Polymer-Drug Conjugate Systems (NPDCS) platform. This technology targets the delivery of currently marketed chemotherapeutic agents directly into cancerous tumors. RX-21101 is a polymer conjugated form of docetaxel, a common chemotherapy agent that is now generic but is marketed worldwide under the trade name Taxotere® and had annual sales of $3.1 billion when still under patent.
“In preclinical studies, RX-21101 has demonstrated increased efficacy and reduced toxicity, as compared to intravenously administered free docetaxel,” explained Dr. Suzdak. “RX-21101 contains a signaling moiety that directs the delivery of docetaxel into tumor cells while minimizing the free circulating levels of docetaxel. This approach reduces potential adverse events and maximizes the anti-tumor activity of docetaxel.”
“The NPDCS platform has the potential to generate multiple development candidates using other pharmaceutical companies’ cytotoxic anticancer compounds, transforming them into cancer cell specific compounds with reduced side effects and increased efficacy. This represents a clinical development approach for Rexahn with lower risk, using FDA approved anticancer compounds. Rexahn looks forward to utilizing the NPDCS platform to develop multiple development candidates for either internal development or out licensing,” Dr. Suzdak concluded.
