[ biotech news ] TGen Awarded $15 Million to Discover and Develop New Therapies for Patients with
TGen Awarded $15 Million to Discover and Develop New Therapies for
Patients with Pancreatic Cancer

Grant focuses on bringing new technology to pancreatic cancer

10-20-2005

Phoenix, AZ, October 20, 2005-The Translational Genomics Research
Institute (TGen) has been awarded a five-year $15 million grant from
the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to lead a group of research
centers in the discovery and development of new therapies for
patients with pancreatic cancer.

This federally funded multi-center program project grant is the
first of its kind that focuses exclusively on pancreatic cancer. The
grant funds three projects with the key theme of accelerating the
delivery of new treatments for patients with pancreatic cancer, one
new compound for each year of the grant. Dr. Daniel D. Von Hoff will
serve as the principal investigator for the study.

"Our goal is to develop one successful candidate molecule for each
year of the grant that can be offered to patients in order to turn
the tables on pancreatic cancer," said Dr. Von Hoff, Director of
TGen's Translational Drug Development Division and the grant's
principal investigator. "Our approach is unique in that it focuses
on the development of innovative translational ways to tackle the
disease."

With a 96% mortality rate, pancreatic cancer is the deadliest of all
cancers. Approximately 35,000 people in the U.S. will be diagnosed
with pancreatic cancer this year and 31,800 people will die.
Pancreatic cancer does not discriminate by age, gender, or race, and
only 24 percent of patients will survive beyond one year. The five-
year survival rate is 4 percent. Despite the especially lethal
nature of pancreatic cancer, no effective early detection methods
have been developed, and there are very few effective treatment
options available to patients. At this time, the average life
expectancy after diagnosis with metastatic disease is just 3 to 6
months.

In addition to TGen, collaborators on the grant include the Arizona
Cancer Center at the University of Arizona and the University of
Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Together, this multidisciplinary
group combines their strength in drug development and the clinical
care of patients with new molecular targets and new genomic
technologies to bring renewed hope and innovative therapies to
patients with pancreatic cancer.

"The time to do this innovative research project is now. The
assembled group of investigators with experience at both the lab
bench and the patients' bedside are uniquely positioned to develop
new therapies and diagnostics for this devastating disease," said
Dr. Jeffrey Trent, TGen's President and Scientific Director.


The grant funds three translational research projects designed to
accelerate the development of new drugs for this devastating
disease.

The first project focuses on the environment in which the tumor
grows. Investigators know that pancreatic cancer tumors grow in a
low oxygen environment. Dr. Garth Powis of the University of Texas
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is leading a team whose goal is to test
drugs in the clinic that will alter the micro-environment around a
tumor in order to prevent the tumor from growing.


"For the first time we have the necessary technology, the
infrastructure and the people to really make an impact on
discovering new molecules against pancreatic cancer," said Dr.
Powis. "We have exciting new drugs and we are starting right away to
test them in patients with pancreatic cancer."

The second project, headed up by TGen's Dr. Haiyong Han and Dr. Von
Hoff, leverages the knowledge that pancreatic cancer tumor cells
have deletions in their DNA. Together with their team, Dr. Han and
Dr. Von Hoff will identify potential candidate drugs that
selectively kill tumor cells that contain the deletions.

The third project, led by Dr. Trent and Dr. Spyro Mousses, Director
of TGen's Cancer Drug Development Laboratory (CDDL), uses genetic
manipulation to make pancreatic cancer tumor cells more sensitive to
drugs by applying a sophisticated technology called siRNA. The siRNA
technology allows researchers to figure out what in a tumor's DNA
can be used as an "Achilles Heel" to make drugs work more
effectively. Identifying these key points of vulnerability may also
lead to new targets, thereby giving researchers an earlier way to
detect the disease.

The grant is supported by four highly-integrated shared services,
including a tissue and blood bank, a computational center which will
facilitates information sharing and data analysis, an administrative
team, and a drug development strategy to accelerate safety testing
and speed the movement of potential drugs from the laboratory to the
clinic.

"The core services provide the infrastructure support needed to make
each project a success. By focusing on drug development and safety
testing, we can get these candidate molecules to the patients
faster," said the Arizona Cancer Center's Dr. Robert Dorr.

Pancreatic Cancer National Advisory Committee
The announcement of the grant coincides with today's inaugural
meeting of the National Pancreatic Cancer Committee, the first of
the TGen Foundation's National Advisory Councils chaired by U.S.
Senator John McCain. The National Pancreatic Cancer Committee is
chaired by pancreatic cancer survivor Howard Young of Atlanta, GA,
and is under the scientific leadership of TGen's Dr. Von Hoff, who
spoke at the meeting.

# # #

About TGen
The mission of the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen)
is to make and translate genomic discoveries into advances in human
health. Translational genomics research is a relatively new field
employing innovative advances arising from the Human Genome Project
and applying them to the development of diagnostics, prognostics and
therapies for cancer, neurological disorders, diabetes and other
complex diseases. TGen is focused on personalized medicine and plans
to accomplish its goals through robust and disease-focused research.

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