Cancer Treatment Breakthrough

By Almac, PRNE
Sunday, April 3, 2011

Scientists at Almac and Queen's University Belfast Discover Novel Approach to Treat Cancer Patients

CRAIGAVON, Northern Ireland, April 4, 2011 - New Study findings published in Clinical Cancer Research - The Journal of
the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR)

Scientists from the School of Pharmacy at Queen's University Belfast and
Almac Discovery Ltd, announce the first publication describing a potential
new anti-angiogenic therapy based on a natural protein first discovered at
QUB. Anti-angiogenics prevent the growth of new blood vessels in tumours and
starve them of nutrients, leading to inhibition of tumour growth.

The paper, published in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the
American Association for Cancer Research, describes the anti-angiogenic
activity of the natural protein, FKBPL, and peptides derived from it. Both
the full length protein and the smaller peptides disrupt the tumour blood
supply, leading to highly effective inhibition of tumour growth in models of
prostate and breast cancer. One of the active peptides is being developed by
Almac Discovery for the treatment of solid tumours.

Professor Tracy Robson, who lead the QUB group said, 'We are excited by
the therapeutic possibilities opened up by this research and look forward to
continuing this successful and stimulating collaboration with Almac
Discovery'.

Dr Stephen Barr, President & Managing Director of Almac Discovery, said,
'This is a first class example of a collaboration between academia and
industry to produce a novel approach to cancer therapy that has a real chance
of helping patients'.

Anti-angiogenic therapies are well established for the treatment of
cancer, but current therapies are all based on disrupting the activity of one
growth factor, VEGF. The work from this collaboration may provide a
first-in-class therapy that targets tumor angiogenesis by an entirely
different pathway to those agents currently on the market.

Notes to editors:

(1) Professor Tracy Robson from The School of Pharmacy at Queen's is
available for interview. Interview bids to Claire O'Callaghan.

Professor Tim Harrison from Almac Discovery is available for interview.
Interview bids to Tristan Jervis, De Facto.

(2) About Almac Discovery Ltd.

Almac Discovery is an independent member of the Almac Group. The company
is focused on the discovery and development of novel and innovative
approaches to the treatment of cancer and associated conditions. Projects
will generally be taken to clinical proof of concept (or earlier) before
out-licensing or partnering for further development.

Founded in 2008, Almac Discovery is located in Craigavon, Northern
Ireland
. For more information, visit www.almacgroup.com/discovery

(3) About Almac Group

The Almac Group provides a broad range of services from R&D, biomarker
discovery and development, API manufacture, formulation development, clinical
trial supply and IXRS technology (IVRS/IWRS), to commercial-scale
manufacture. Almac provides services to more than 600 companies, including
all the world leaders in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors.

The company employs over 3,000 individuals and is headquartered in
Craigavon, Northern Ireland. US operations are based in Pennsylvania, North
Carolina
and California. Almac has now moved into its new $120m North
American Headquarters located in Souderton PA.

(4) Anti-angiogenic therapies are well established for the treatment of
cancer, but current therapies are all based on disrupting the activity of
growth factors. The work from this collaboration may provide a first-in-class
therapy that targets tumour angiogenesis by an entirely different pathway to
those agents currently on the market.

For media enquiries please contact: Tristan Jervis , Associate Director, DeFacto Communications, T.Jervis at Defacto.com Tel: +44-2078-613019, Claire O'Callaghan, School of Pharmacy, Queen's University, c.ocallaghan at qub.ac.uk Tel: +44(0)2890-975391 or +44(0)7814422572, Robert Grundy, PhD, Director Research Alliance, Almac Discovery Ltd, Robert.grundy at almacgroup.com T: +44(0)28-3833-2200, For more information about the Almac Group, please visit www.almacgroup.com or e-mail info at almacgroup.com

YOUR VIEW POINT
NAME : (REQUIRED)
MAIL : (REQUIRED)
will not be displayed
WEBSITE : (OPTIONAL)
YOUR
COMMENT :