Late-breaking presentation shows multilineage blood cell growth with excellent safety in chemotherapy patients
Maret Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today reported positive Phase I/II clinical results that demonstrate the potential of MARstem™ as a multilineage hematopoietic therapy (multiple blood cell stimulant) to treat or prevent pancytopenia (a reduction in different types of blood cells) following chemotherapy in breast cancer patients. The study was selected as a late breaking abstract at the 11th National Cancer Institute - European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer - American Association for Cancer Research (NCI-EORTC-AACR) Symposium on New Drugs in Cancer Therapy.
The study was designed to evaluate safety, optimal dose and proof-of-principle efficacy of MARstem in adjuvant breast cancer patients. The results show that MARstem reduced the frequency of grade 2-4 thrombocytopenia (decrease in the number of blood platelets), grade 2-4 anemia (deficiency in red blood cells), and grade 3-4 lymphopenia (reduction in the number of lymphocytes) as compared to controls.
"These early clinical results suggest that MARstem may effective in improving or reducing the debilitating side effects of cancer treatment," said Terry Winters, Ph.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Maret Pharmaceuticals. “MARstem has a clear therapeutic benefit as a multilineage hematopoietic factor as compared to traditional hematopoietic stimulants, which selectively increase only a single blood cell line. The trial’s outcome is promising, as the safety of MARstem has been established and the preliminary efficacy results are encouraging.”
The study’s results suggest that MARstem exhibits an excellent safety profile. There were no dose-limiting toxicities in the patients treated with MARstem. Specifically, there were no adverse cardiovascular or hematologic effects. The overall occurrence of side effects was lower in MARstem patients than in control patients.
The 11th Annual NCI-EORTC-AACR symposium is being held from November 7-10 in Amsterdam. Late-breaking abstracts are selected based on highly significant subjects that present timely findings in the field of cancer therapeutics. The title of the poster presentation is “MARstem: A novel multilineage hematopoietic stimulant for chemotherapy induced pancytopenia.” The poster will be presented by lead investigator, Dr. Ronald Blachly of the Northeast Arkansas Clinic on Friday, November 10.
Maret's product development focuses on MARstem, an analog of the angiotensin family of novel small peptides to treat a variety of conditions that could benefit from an increase in the formation and release of stem cells. In addition to the adjuvant breast cancer study, MARstem is currently undergoing Phase I/II clinical trials to evaluate the effects in correcting anemia in chronic renal failure patients.
Maret Pharmaceuticals is a privately held company engaged in the discovery, development, and commercialization of small peptides to assist the body to recover from injury.
Additional information and a copy of the poster presentation abstract is available on the Company’s website at www.maretpharma.com.