Advanced Proteome Therapeutics’ Lead Compound Inhibits Metastasis in Breast Cancer Tumor Model

VANCOUVER, BC–(Marketwired – April 29, 2015) – Advanced Proteome Therapeutics Corporation (“APC” or the “Company”) (TSX VENTURE: APC) (FRANKFURT: 0E8) is pleased to announce that its current lead compound APC 101 successfully diminished the frequency of tumor metastasis in the 4T1 animal model.

The Company’s academic collaborators used three different methods, carried out over several weeks, for measuring metastases from breast to lungs in animals: clonogenic assays, bioluminescent imaging, and histopathology.

All three methods were in agreement that APC 101 reduced metastases to the lungs. The clonogenic assay, which measures the effect of drugs or radiation on proliferating tumor cells, indicated that just a single dose of APC 101 dramatically reduced the number of tumor colonies in lung, and the lung colonies were all but eradicated by combining APC 101 with a checkpoint inhibitor, an anti-CTLA-4 antibody.

APC has been engaged in the research and development of protein drugs in the area of cancer therapeutics. An outgrowth of the Company’s program has been APC 101, a chemically modified form of the parent delivery system targeted to tumors that has exhibited retardation of tumor growth of a fibrosarcoma in an animal model. As part of an overall plan to explore the utility of APC 101, the Company has extended studies of APC 101 to other treatment models.

The Company has also concluded a preliminary investigation of APC 101 in the CT26 animal model of colon cancer, in which all regimens were well tolerated as reported by a renowned contract research organization. A two-dose regimen of APC 101 combined with an anti-CTLA-4 regimen resulted in statistically significant tumor growth delay. For the time being, however, given the encouraging results with the 4T1 model, the Company intends to focus its resources developing molecules capable of retarding metastasis using this model as a guidepost.

The 4T1 mouse model of breast cancer is poorly immunogenic and highly metastatic, characteristics shared with advanced human cancers that make it among the most popular tumor models for assessing novel therapeutic approaches. It is an especially appealing tumor model because it can spontaneously metastasize from the primary tumor in the mammary gland to distant sites.

Allen Krantz, APC’s President and CEO, commented: “Most cancer deaths are due to metastatic disease, which is treatable but generally incurable. Distant metastasis is the primary cause from death in breast cancer. Inhibition of metastasis is clearly both a medical and commercial frontier with major opportunities to improve therapy. For example, not a single targeted therapy has been approved for the treatment of triple negative breast cancer, and cytotoxic chemotherapy remains the standard treatment The Company is excited about the results we have obtained bearing on metastasis, which clearly merit a point of focus for APC, and potentially, extension to other hormonally driven cancers.”

About APC

APC has been applying its Foundation Trinity™ Technology to proteins targeted for the treatment of cancers. Advanced targeted therapies are designed to attack primarily cancer cells and are expected to dominate the anti-cancer therapeutics’ market in the near future. The Company’s goals are not only to employ therapy targeted for tumor cells, but also to deliver combination therapy in a single, pure therapeutic agent, that can also, in turn, be combined with additional agents to enhance therapies.

To achieve this end, it has been the Company’s intention to utilize a unique protein (and related systems), not only as a delivery vehicle to tumor cells, but also as a scaffold upon which to attach each anti-cancer entity to its own specific site on the protein surface — both key to efficient manufacturing and product development. The protein vehicle has emerged as a potential immunotherapeutic as it is implicated in activating the immune system to attack and help clear tumor cells. Immunotherapy is perhaps the most powerful current approach to cancer, and one of great commercial interest to the pharmaceutical industry.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release involve risks and uncertainties, and are subject to change based on various important factors including timely development and acceptance of new products, gaining product approval, successful entry into new markets, changes in financing conditions, and changes in FDA regulations.

Source: Marketwired Biotech