Pharmacyclics to present on Btk and HDAC programs at AACR 2010

Pharmacyclics, Inc. (Nasdaq: PCYC) today announced multiple presentations covering its Btk and HDAC programs at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2010 Annual Meeting being held April 17-21 in Washington, DC.  

The oral presentation describes efficacy of the company's first-in-human Btk inhibitor PCI-32765 in a mouse model of pancreatic cancer (Soucek et al).  Two other presentations describe the discovery of drug synergy with the company's HDAC inhibitor, PCI-24781 and the drug bortezomib in neuroblastoma (Currier et al), or with inhibitors of LSD1 in glioblastoma (Singh et al).    An additional presentation describes preclinical development of the company's novel HDAC-8 isoform-selective inhibitors targeting T cell lymphoma and neuroblastoma (Balasubramanian et al).

"We are continuing our research to expand the clinical indications for the drugs in our pipeline," said Dr. Joseph J. Buggy, Vice President of Research. "For example, while the Btk inhibitor PCI-32765 continues to show promise in clinical trials in patients with B cell lymphomas and leukemias, we are now seeing preclinical evidence that the compound may also be efficacious in mast cell-driven cancers, which include certain pancreatic tumors and melanomas.  In addition, our HDAC inhibitor PCI-24781 is now showing synergy with bortezomib in several indications.  Based on  this discovery, and our previous work, we are planning Phase I/II trials with PCI -24781 in combination with a number of other chemotherapeutics  in collaboration with our ex-US global partner, Les Laboratories Servier."  

SOURCE Pharmacyclics, Inc.