LUND UNIVERSITY: Dr.MARCUS HANSSON

Antibody BI-505 : possible treatment for MULTIPLE MYELOMA

06 May 2013

A single antibody could be the key to treating multiple myeloma, or cancer of the blood, currently without cure or long-term treatment.
“We tested the antibody in various ways, including on tumour cells from myeloma patients that have been transplanted into mice. The tests showed that the antibody is able to destroy myeloma cells”, explains Markus Hansson, a researcher at Lund University in Sweden.
Using a ‘biological library’ of thousands of antibodies from the company BioInvent in Lund, the team singled out antibody BI-505, shown to have a powerful effect on the tumour cells in both cell studies and animal experiments. It has also been tested in an initial safety study on seriously ill patients, and a study of its treatment effects has just started.
“This study will include patients who have just been diagnosed and therefore still feel fairly well. We want to test the antibody treatment before the patients are treated with any other drugs”, says Markus Hansson.
Today there are a number of drugs to treat multiple myeloma, but no cure. None of the drugs are able to eradicate the disease, meaning cancer cells increase in number after a period of remission. Survival has been extended with new treatments, but less than half of all patients live longer than five years from diagnosis.
Myeloma occurs when a specific type of cell in the bone marrow is converted into tumour cells. Blood formation is disrupted and patients suffer from a lack of blood resulting in fatigue. The bones can be weakened with a risk of fractures and compacted vertebrae, and patients sometimes suffer kidney failure as a result of the disease.
Antibodies are a part of the immune system, fighting off foreign bodies. Antibody-based drugs are now used to treat certain inflammatory diseases and types of cancer.
The treatment study in Lund will involve 15 patients and is expected to be completed this year. If the results are good, Markus Hansson and his colleagues hope to be able to continue testing BI-505 in larger-scale studies. They will be studying the best way of using the new antibody: alone or in combination with other drugs; at the start of the disease or at a later stage.
Publication:A Human ICAM-1 Antibody Isolated by a Function-First Approach Has Potent Macrophage-Dependent Antimyeloma Activity In Vivo, Cancer Cell, 23(4) pp. 502 - 515
Principal authors: Markus Hansson, Lund University
Niina Veitonmäki and Björn Frendéus, BioInvent
http://www.cell.com/cancer-cell/abstract/S1535-6108(13)00080-9
Contact:Markus Hansson
Phone: +46 705 93 11 10
markus.hansson@med.lu.se

BioInvent Int.AB: BI-505 for MULTIPLE MYELOMA

BioInvent Presents Positive Data for BI-505 at International Myeloma Congress

LUND, Sweden--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BioInvent International AB (OMXS:BINV) announce that the previously communicated positive results from a phase I trial of BI-505 is presented today at The International Myeloma Workshop in Kyoto, Japan. At the same meeting, preclinical data is also presented which demonstrate significantly enhanced efficacy when approved myeloma drugs are combined with BI-505. BI-505 is a human antibody directed against ICAM-1 and is developed for the treatment of multiple myeloma.
The results from the phase I study of BI-505 in patients with advanced multiple myeloma are presented by Associate Professor Markus Hansson at Lund University. The preliminary analysis shows that BI-505 has an advantageous safety profile. In cohorts where extended treatment was available, 24 percent of the patients had stable disease for at least two months, indicating effect of BI-505.
At the same meeting, new preclinical data is also presented showing significantly enhanced anti-myeloma activity when the approved drugs Velcade^® or Revlimid® is combined with BI-505 compared to single agent treatment. Combined treatment was evaluated in two different experimental models and the drugs were given in a similar way as to patients with myeloma. In one of the models enhanced survival was observed following combination therapy with BI-505, compared to single agent treatment with the approved drugs. In the second model, complete remission was observed in the majority of animals when combining BI-505 with Revlimid^® or Velcade^®.
Cristina Glad, CEO for BioInvent, commented: “We believe BI-505 has the potential to address a major unmet medical need in a broad population of patients with multiple myeloma. Based on the results from the phase I trial which are now presented at the international myeloma meeting, we have decided to continue our studies on BI-505 with a new smaller trial in patients with asymptomatic multiple myeloma (called “smoldering multiple myeloma”). The interesting preclinical studies showing enhanced anti-tumor effect when combining BI-505 with approved drugs, support to move forward with a clinical trial in which BI-505 is combined with another drug, representing a logic continuation of the clinical development process for our hitherto most advanced project.”