AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc, has initiated a phase-1 clinical trial to evaluate the safety, tolerability and recommended dose of SCH900105 (AV-299), its novel, highly potent antibody to hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), administered intravenously in patients with relapsed or refractory solid tumours or lymphoma. SCH900105 (AV-299) is being developed in collaboration with Schering-Plough. Under the terms of the agreement, human dosing with SCH900105 (AV-299) triggers a $3.0 million milestone payment from Schering Plough to AVEO.
"We are pleased to announce the initiation of clinical trials of SCH900105 (AV-299) (AV-299)," stated Tuan Ha-Ngoc, president and chief executive officer of AVEO. "Working with Schering-Plough, our research teams have made rapid progress with this novel antibody. The cMET/HGF pathway is one of the most promising in cancer research. We believe that SCH900105 (AV-299) has the potential to be the best-in-class anti-HGF antibody. Our proprietary Human Response Platform (HRP) promises to provide us with tools to move SCH900105 (AV-299) forward rapidly in clinical development."
HGF is the soluble ligand for the c-Met receptor tyrosine kinase. Preclinical studies have provided strong evidence that signalling through the HGF/c-Met pathway mediates several cellular functions involved in tumour growth and metastasis, such as cell proliferation, angiogenesis, survival, migration, and invasion. Numerous studies have demonstrated a correlation between high HGF levels and poor prognosis in a wide variety of human malignancies including gastric, breast, and lung, suggesting that targeting HGF may provide a novel way of treating a broad range of cancers.
"SCH900105 (AV-299) is the most advanced of our deep pipeline of internally discovered monoclonal antibodies, and we advanced this antibody from discovery to the clinic in only three years. AVEO has built a state-of-the-art antibody drug discovery platform which has yielded a rich pipeline of more than 10 currently un-partnered programs dedicated to the delivery of novel, high-quality oncology antibody drug candidates," stated Elan Ezickson, chief business officer. "Our next most advanced antibody programme is the AV-370 programme, a member of the FGFR family. The progress with SCH900105 (AV-299), combined with our significant progress with AV-951, our orally delivered, triple VEGF receptor inhibitor which recently completed enrolment in a phase-2 clinical trial in patients with metastatic renal cell cancer, demonstrates AVEO's unique ability to advance a balanced portfolio of high-value antibodies and small molecules."
SCH900105 (AV-299) is a highly potent antagonist of hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF), which has demonstrated excellent activity in preclinical models of human cancer.
AVEO is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel, targeted cancer therapeutics.