1 Jun 2016 07:00
Tiziana Life Sciences PLC
("Tiziana" or the "Company")
Tiziana Partnership with Cardiff Researchers Wins Innovation in Healthcare Award
June 1, 2016 - Tiziana Life Sciences plc (AIM: TILS), a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on targeted drugs to treat diseases in oncology and immunology, today notes that Cardiff University has announced that the partnership between Tiziana Life Sciences and researchers at Cardiff University, which has led to the development of a potential new drug for metastatic breast cancer, has won the Innovation in Healthcare category at Cardiff University's Innovation and Impact Awards 2016.
The award winning venture between Tiziana and a joint team from the European Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute and School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Cardiff has led to the identification of a small molecule inhibitor of Bcl3, which possesses potent anti-cancer properties for breast and colorectal metastatic cancer.
Gabriele Cerrone, Chairman of Tiziana Life Sciences Plc, said: "Work on this project helped us to cement our relationship with Cardiff University and drives forward the new field of cancer stem cell therapeutics. This Award showcases the great work being done at Cardiff to identify inhibitors which can be developed into novel drugs for cancers."
The full text of the announcement from Cardiff University is as follows:
Innovation in Healthcare: Tiziana Life Sciences Plc
A partnership which is developing a new drug for metastatic breast cancer has won the Innovation in Healthcare honour at Cardiff University's Innovation and Impact Awards 2016.
The venture, led by a joint team from the European Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute and School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Cardiff, combined academic expertise in drug development and cancer biology together with experience of restructuring biotechnology companies.
The project originated from a PhD study of mammary gland development in the University's School of Biosciences, where a team in the Clarkson laboratory identified the oncogene Bcl3 as a potential regulator of metastasis.
The lab then collaborated with Dr Andrea Brancale and Dr Andrew Westwell of the University's School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences to design and develop a novel inhibitor of Bcl3 for use as an anti-cancer agent.
By 2013 the team had identified a small molecule inhibitor of Bcl3, which the Clarkson lab showed to possess potent anti-cancer properties for breast and colorectal metastatic cancer.
The team then approached biotech entrepreneur Gabriele Cerrone to discuss commercial investment, and a new biotechnology company - Tiziana Life Sciences Plc - was founded.
Launched on the AIM market at the London Stock Exchange in April 2014, it currently has a market capitalization of around £150M.
Dr Richard Clarkson, Senior Lecturer of cancer research in the School of Biosciences, said: "We are delighted to win this Award, which recognises the team's dedication and hard work in developing this new form of treatment. This is the first novel targeted agent with anti-cancer stem cell properties to be developed from lab bench to bedside in the UK. It is at the forefront of a new era of anti-metastatic agents to be championed in clinical trials - and is the first anti-cancer agent to be identified, developed, verified and due to be clinically tested in Wales, with funding from the UK commercial sector and Welsh government."
Gabriele Cerrone, Chairman of Tiziana Life Sciences Plc, said: "Work on this project helped us to cement our relationship with Cardiff University and drives forward the new field of cancer stem cell therapeutics. This Award showcases the great work being done at Cardiff to identify inhibitors which can be developed into novel drugs for cancers."
ENDS
Contact
Tiziana Life Sciences plc Gabriele Cerrone, Chairman and founder
| +44 (0)20 7493 2853 |
Dr Richard Clarkson Cardiff University
| clarksonr@cardiff.ac.uk |
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (Nominated adviser) Liam Murray
| +44 (0)20 7148 7900 |
Beaufort Securities Limited (Broker) Saif Janjua
| +44 (0)20 7382 8300 |
FTI Consulting Simon Conway / Natalie Garland-Collins
| +44 (0)20 3727 1000 |
About Tiziana Life Sciences
Tiziana Life Sciences plc is a UK biotechnology company that focuses on the discovery and development of novel molecules that treat human disease in oncology and immunology.
The Company is focused on its lead compound, milciclib, a molecule which blocks the action of specific enzymes called cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK) involved in cell division as well as a number of other protein kinases. Milciclib is currently completing phase II clinical trials for thymic carcinoma in patients previously treated with chemotherapy and preparing and IND to enroll patients in an exploratory trial in Hepatic Cellular Carcinoma (HCC).
The Company is also in clinical development of foralumab. Foralumab is the only fully human engineered anti-human CD3 antibody in clinical development. This phase II compound has potential application in a wide range of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, such as ulcerative colitis, multiple sclerosis, type-1 diabetes (T1D), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis, where modulation of a T-cell response is desirable.
Tiziana Life Sciences' clinical development teams are working on its Bcl-3 candidate; which has a prominent role in the metastasis of mammary cancers, and has elucidated the mechanism of Bcl-3 action to be a regulator of cancer cell motility and has also determined that Bcl-3 inhibition suppresses cell motility in triple-negative, HER-2-positive PR- and ER-positive breast cancer sub-types, suggesting that Bcl-3 may be a master regulator of this metastatic property not only in aggressive breast cancers, but across the clinical spectrum of breast disease. The Company is preparing the IND package with the intention of progressing to clinical trials this year.
For more information go to http://www.tizianalifesciences.com