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Targeting Metastatic Cancer From the Inside: Epeius Biotech Reveals a New Generation of Tools for Medical Gene Delivery

Posted on: Monday, 6 October 2008, 15:00 CDT

SAN MARINO, Calif., Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Epeius Biotechnologies Corporation today announced the publication of another landmark paper describing recent technological advances in medical gene delivery. The latest scientific paper, entitled "Targeting metastatic cancer from the inside: A new generation of targeted gene delivery vectors enables personalized cancer vaccination in situ," was published in the October issue of the International Journal of Oncology (IJO). The paper describes the new state-of-the-art in tumor-targeting biotechnology, nanotechnology, and therapeutic gene delivery developed for clinical applications in the field of oncology. The paper lays the scientific, preclinical and clinical foundations for new applications of personalized medicine, specifically for patients with metastatic cancer.

Based on recent breakthroughs in pathotropic (or disease-seeking) tumor targeting technologies, a new generation of anti-cancer agents is currently being developed. Anti-cancer agents such as Rexin-G can be delivered by simple intravenous infusion, yet are designed to seek out and accumulate in primary and metastatic lesions that have spread throughout the body. Rexin-G is essentially a pathotropically targeted nanoparticle of genetic medicine that is guided by a proprietary targeting technology and is designed to deliver a killer-gene selectively to tumor cells and their associated (proliferative) blood supply. Representing the first and so far only targeted genetic medicine proven to be both safe and effective in the clinic, Rexin-G is commercially available in the Philippines -- for use in all solid tumors that are refractory to standard chemotherapy -- and is currently in clinical trials in the USA for several cancer indications.

Following the validation of its lead product in the clinic, Epeius Biotech has developed a second tumor-targeted anti-cancer agent, named Reximmune-C, designed to work in concert with Rexin-G by providing a localized cancer vaccination aimed at gaining additional tumor control. According to Dr. Erlinda M. Gordon, Medical Director of Epeius Biotech, "Based on the clear survival benefits of Rexin-G that we are seeing in our clinical trials, we felt obligated to advance this new product to provide an opportunity for personalized cancer vaccination in patients who may still be at risk for recurrence." Reximmune-C is a tumor-targeted gene delivery vector delivering an immune-stimulating cytokine gene directly to residual tumors, with the intent of generating a localized vaccination to encourage a lasting anti-tumor immunity. The IJO paper summarizes the preclinical studies, pilot clinical studies, and the elegant vector design engineering embodied in Reximmune-C, which make this clinical application possible.

About Epeius Biotechnologies

Epeius Biotechnologies Corporation is a privately held biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the advancement of genetic medicine with the development and commercialization of its proprietary targeted delivery systems. To learn more about our pipeline of proprietary biotechnologies currently available for clinical development and/or new product development, visit us at http://www.epeiusbiotech.com/.

For more information about Rexin-G, Reximmune-C, on-going clinical trials in the USA and abroad, and/or Epeius pathotropic (disease-seeking) gene delivery systems, contact Dr. Erlinda M. Gordon: egordon@epeiusbiotech.com.

This release was issued on behalf of the above organization by Send2Press(R), a unit of Neotrope(R). http://www.send2press.com/

Epeius Biotechnologies Corporation

CONTACT: Erlinda M. Gordon, M.D. of Epeius Biotechnologies Corporation,+1-626-441-6695

Web site: http://www.epeiusbiotech.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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