ROCKVILLE, Md.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE MKT: RNN), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing potential best-in-class oncology therapies, today announced that it has been issued United States Patent, No. 8,598,173, which covers a method for treating solid cancer tumors including ovarian, breast, prostate, liver, lung, kidney, colon, pancreatic and stomach for its clinical development candidate SupinoxinTM (RX-5902). Rexahn had previously received a composition of matter patent from the United Stated Patent and Trademark Office covering the structure of Supinoxin.
“We are progressing on schedule with our Phase I dose-escalation clinical trial for Supinoxin in cancer patients with solid cancer tumors. Having initiated patient enrollment in August, we expect data in the first half of 2014, which will help inform the study design for future Phase II trials on Supinoxin,” stated Rexahn CEO Peter D. Suzdak, Ph.D.
“We are committed to developing cancer treatments that specifically target cancer cells, excluding healthy tissue, so that cancer can be treated with increased efficacy and reduced toxicity. Strengthening our IP portfolio as we advance in our clinical trials adds critical value to our company,” added Dr. Suzdak.
In-vitro studies have shown that Supinoxin reduces the spread of 18 different human cancer cells lines. Supinoxin has also shown that it can eliminate cancer cells which were resistant to other widely used cancer drugs including docetaxel, cisplatin and gemcitabine. Supinoxin is an orally available new chemical entity exhibiting potent antitumor properties in several types of tumors and has also show strong anti-proliferative activity against known anti-cancer drug-resistant cancer cells, and a synergistic effect with known anti-cancer drugs as well.
About SupinoxinTM (RX-5902)
Supinoxin is an orally administered, first-in-class, small molecule inhibitor of phosphorylated-p68 RNA helicase (P-p68). P-p68, which is selectively expressed in cancer cells but absent in normal tissue, increases the activity of multiple cancer related genes including cyclin D1, c-jun and c-myc, and plays a role in tumor progression and metastasis. Over-expression of P-p68 has been observed in solid tumors such as melanoma, colon, ovarian and lung.
About Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Rexahn Pharmaceuticals is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing best-in-class therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. Rexahn currently has three clinical stage oncology candidates, Archexin®, RX-3117, and SupinoxinTM (RX-5902), and a robust pipeline of preclinical compounds to treat multiple types of cancer. Rexahn has also developed proprietary drug discovery platform technologies in the areas of Nano-Polymer-Drug Conjugate Systems (NPDCS), nano-medicines, 3D-GOLD, and TIMES. For more information, please visit www.rexahn.com.
