GPC Biotech initiates anticancer clinical trial
GPC Biotech, a biotechnology company that specialises in discovering and developing new anticancer drugs, has initiated a Phase I human clinical study with its monoclonal antibody 1D09C3, the company's first internal r&d anticancer program to enter human clinical testing.
GPC Biotech, a biotechnology company that specialises in discovering and developing new anticancer drugs, has initiated a Phase I human clinical study with its monoclonal antibody 1D09C3, the company's first internal r&d anticancer program to enter human clinical testing.
The study is an open label, Phase I study to evalu-ate 1D09C3 in patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell lymphomas who have failed prior standard therapy. It will involve major academic centres in Switzerland, Germany and Italy. The goal of the study is to determine the safety and tolerance of the antibody in patients and to recommend a dose and schedule for subsequent Phase II studies.
1D09C3 is an anti-MHC (Major Histocompatibility Complex) class II monoclonal antibody. The antibody, isolated in collaboration with MorphoSys from its HuCAL library of human antibodies, binds to certain cell surface receptors, selectively killing activated, proliferating MHC class II-positive tumour cells, which include those in B-cell and T-cell lymphomas.
In 2004, it was estimated that more than 54,000 people in the U.S. and about 64,000 people in the European Union were diagnosed with non- Hodgkin's lymphoma. 1D09C3 has been shown to induce programmed cell death and does not require a functioning immune system for its cell-killing effect.