Endocyte Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing targeted small molecule drug conjugates (SMDCs) and companion imaging diagnostics for personalized therapy, has received World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States Adopted Names (USAN) Council approval for its non-proprietary name "vintafolide" (pronounced vin ta foe’ lide) for Endocyte’s therapeutic drug candidate EC145 and the non-proprietary name of “etarfolatide” (pronounced et” ar foe’ la tide) for Endocyte’s companion imaging agent EC20.

Vintafolide and etarfolatide are currently being evaluated in the phase III PROCEED trial for the treatment of women with folate-receptor positive platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. Etarfolatide is being used to select patients with tumours that over-express folate receptors and who are most likely to benefit from vintafolide therapy. Endocyte intends to file European Marketing Authorisation Applications for both agents based on positive phase II results.

The USAN Council serves health professionals in the United States by selecting simple, informative, and unique non-proprietary names for drugs by establishing logical nomenclature classifications based on pharmacological and/or chemical relationships to ensure that drug information is communicated accurately and unambiguously. The USAN Council aims for global standardization and unification of drug nomenclature by working closely with the International Non-proprietary Name Programme of the World Health Organization and various national nomenclature groups.

Vintafolide is a conjugate of the vitamin folate and a super-potent vinca alkaloid. Folate is required for cell division and rapidly dividing cancer cells often over-express folate receptors in order to capture enough folate to support cell division. By attaching a chemotherapy drug to folate through proprietary chemistry, vintafolide targets cancer cells while avoiding most normal cells. This targeted approach is designed to provide treatment with super-potent drugs while lowering toxicity compared to standard chemotherapy.

Etarfolatide is a folate-targeted molecular imaging agent that is being developed as a non-invasive method to identify tumours that over-express folate receptors. These tumors are the molecular target of Endocyte's folate-targeted therapeutic compounds such as vintafolide. To date, etarfolatide has been administered to over 550 patients.