Myriad Genetics, Inc. announced progress with its anti-cancer compound, MPI-176716. The drug candidate is in the final stages of preclinical development prior to submission to the US FDA as an Investigational New Drug (IND). The new data released by the company demonstrates the drug's exceptional potency in killing cancer cells and its ability to cause tumour regression in animal models of ovarian cancer.

MPI-176716 was tested against OVCAR tumour cells in a mouse xenograft model. Myriad's drug candidate was evaluated in comparison to the current standard of care in ovarian cancer therapy, carboplatin. MPI-176716 was given to the mice in combination with carboplatin, using saline as control. Compared with saline control, carboplatin alone reduced tumour volume by approximately 20per cent, a significant achievement against this notoriously difficult tumour. But remarkably, when MPI-176716 was combined with carboplatin, the tumours were sent into remission, regressing essentially 100per cent by the end of the trial. At the end of the 55 day study period, the MPI-176716 treated mice had an ending tumour volume that was below measurement range.

"We are excited by the potential of this promising drug candidate to treat a variety of cancer types," said Peter Meldrum, president and CEO of Myriad Genetics, Inc. "There are few options available to treat aggressive tumours such as ovarian cancer and we are not aware of any drug on the market that shows as great a level of activity against the OVCAR ovarian cancer tumour model. We intend to vigorously move this drug candidate into human clinical trials this year."

Myriad discovered the drug's anti-cancer target through the use of its proprietary genetics and protein interaction technologies. MPI-176716, a small molecule drug candidate, was discovered using Myriad's proprietary library of approximately 300,000 proprietary molecules, followed by a medicinal chemistry program. Myriad has formulated a preferred IV (intravenous) preparation of the drug candidate in preparation for human clinical trials.

MPI-176716 induces apoptosis in cancer cell lines. The drug candidate has demonstrated a good early safety profile. It has broad anti-cancer activity as established against a variety of solid tumours and blood cancers in culture.

MPI-176716 was tested in parallel with cisplatin and etoposide, two common anti-neoplastic compounds used to treat certain ovarian cancer, bladder cancer, lung cancer, testicular cancer and non-hodgkins lymphoma cases. MPI-176716 was more potent than either, killing cancer cells rapidly. It was 30 times more potent than Cisplatin and 20 times more potent than Etoposide.

Cancer is uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells. Normal cells go through a programmed process of cell death called apoptosis, part of the body's constant effort to rejuvenate itself. Cancer cells have managed to avoid this process, and become immortal. MPI-176716 selectively induces apoptosis in cancer cells, causing them, in essence, to self-destruct.