RPCI, Jasco Pharmaceuticals partner to advance development of cancer therapy

A new partnership, first of its kind for both organizations, will see Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) and Jasco Pharmaceuticals, LLC collaborating to advance development of an investigational pharmacological therapy that shows promise for treating both solid-tumor cancers and hematologic malignancies. The affiliation will see RPCI providing preclinical research infrastructure and services to fast-track development of Jasco's lead agent and speed its progression to the clinical-trial phase.

“It's an ambitious but totally realistic goal given the resources for preclinical and clinical research that exist at RPCI and the tremendous progress Jasco has made on this agent so far.”

That agent, JP_11646, is a PIM inhibitor that targets a class of kinase enzymes that help to regulate cancer cell survival. In preclinical studies, JP_11646 has shown activity against solid tumors including breast, colon, liver, lung and pancreas cancers as well as multiple myeloma.

Through this partnership, Jasco, which operates from Woburn, Mass., and has its headquarters in Rochester, N.Y., and RPCI will jointly pursue further preclinical development of the agent, including pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) analysis to define its efficacy, its toxicity and how cells respond to it. The project is the first to take advantage of the Center for Drug Development at RPCI, a new program uniting Institute resources that previously operated separately.

Kelvin Lee, MD, Jacobs Family Chair in Immunology and Co-Leader of the Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy Program at Roswell Park, will lead a study into the role PIM kinases play in CD28 signaling pathways, a survival mechanism that is a major cause of resistance to frontline multiple myeloma treatments.

"This collaboration brings Jasco's unique kinase inhibitor platform together with Roswell Park's comprehensive expertise in the development of novel therapies for oncology and the treatment of patients," says Jasco Pharmaceuticals CEO Eugene Baldino. "It's a great fit, and one that I know will reduce the development timeline of this promising agent, making it available to patients sooner."

"Our goal is to get the therapy to cancer patients through a phase I clinical study within one year," notes Alex Adjei, MD, PhD, FACP, Senior Vice President for Clinical Research and Director of the Center for Drug Development at RPCI, and the American Society of Clinical Oncology's inaugural Conquer Cancer Foundation Drug Development Professor. "It's an ambitious but totally realistic goal given the resources for preclinical and clinical research that exist at RPCI and the tremendous progress Jasco has made on this agent so far."