Taipei, Taiwan – 31 January 2013 – A recent paper published by the Academia Sinica explained that a new generation therapeutic cancer vaccine – Globo H-DT (OBI-833) – can effectively target cancer cells and cancer stem cells. These results have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) in an article entitled, “Carbohydrate-based vaccines with a glycolipid adjuvant for breast cancer.” The technology was granted a US patent in 2009, was licensed by the Academia Sinica to OBI Pharma in 2010, and is currently being developed by OBI Pharma.
OBI Pharma has conducted intense research in Globo H carbohydrate cancer immunotherapy since 2002. Globo H is expressed on the surface of certain cancer cells, including the following cancer types: breast, ovary, prostate, pancreas, colon, and stomach. Immunotherapy is a novel therapy for cancer and the most advanced progress made to date is OBI Pharma’s Phase II/III clinical trial of OBI-822 (Globo H-KLH) for metastatic breast cancer subjects, which is a multinational multi-center randomized controlled clinical trial in Taiwan, Hong, South Korea, India and the US. This study has been granted Phase III status by the Taiwan FDA.
Globo H-DT (OBI-833) utilizes a different mechanism than Globo H-KLH, which may be superior to that of Globo H-KLH. Therefore, OBI Pharma will develop OBI-833 for the unmet medical needs of the most aggressive types of cancer.
The glycosphingolipid Globo H is highly expressed in various types of cancers, including lung, breast, prostate, ovary, gastric, and colon. Globo H was first isolated by Hakomori and colleagues from a breast cancer cell line by an anti-Globo H IgM antibody. The new synthetic cancer drug demonstrates very high specificity. In addition, this active immunotherapy can stimulate the body’s immune system to target cancer cells. Therefore, active immunotherapy is capable of stimulating a specific immune response to target cancer cells, extending the survival time significantly and improving the quality of life of these patients.
Dr. Youe-Kong Shue, CEO of OBI Pharma, says OBI-833 will target more aggressive cancer types and expects to initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial in the US and Taiwan in 2014.
About OBI Pharma OBI Pharma, Inc. is a Taiwan biopharmaceutical company that strives to improve health and the quality of life through innovative and cost-effective therapeutics. OBI Pharma’s focus is on the “Unmet Medical Needs” of challenging diseases, such as Cancer & Infectious Diseases. Additional information can be found at https://www.obipharma.com.
Contact:
Bob Chang
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