OncoMed announces data from demcizumab preclinical study on pancreatic cancer

OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage company developing novel therapeutics that target cancer, today announced the online publication in Clinical Cancer Research of preclinical data demonstrating the potent anti-cancer activity of anti-DLL4 (demcizumab) in patient-derived pancreatic tumor models. Demcizumab, the company's first Notch pathway product candidate, is currently in Phase 1b clinical testing. The paper entitled "Anti-DLL4 Has Broad Spectrum Activity in Pancreatic Cancer Dependent on Targeting DLL4-Notch Signaling in Both Tumor and Vasculature Cells" was published online September 5, 2012.    

"Our data suggests that inhibiting the Notch pathway with anti-DLL4 has the potential to improve treatment of pancreatic cancer," said Tim Hoey, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Cancer Biology at OncoMed Pharmaceuticals and a co-author of the paper. "Anti-DLL4 has demonstrated preclinical activity in a panel of patient-derived pancreatic tumors and inhibits tumor growth through multiple mechanisms including the ability to reduce cancer stem cell frequency. We think that this effect on cancer stem cells is an important attribute of demcizumab and could be very beneficial in the treatment of pancreatic cancer, an indication where it has been very difficult to develop effective new therapies."

"Demcizumab is our most advanced clinical molecule," said Paul Hastings, OncoMed's President and Chief Executive Officer. "We have learned a great deal from our preclinical and more recent, clinical development experience with demcizumab. We look forward to opportunities to present our findings to the clinical community on this molecule as well as the other potential first-in-class therapeutics in our pipeline that target key cancer stem cell pathways."