Alethia Obtains Exclusive Worldwide Diagnostic Rights To Peptide From NRC-BRI

Alethia Biotherapeutics (Alethia) has obtained the exclusive worldwide diagnostic rights to a peptide that specifically binds to tumor-associated clusterin from the National Research Council Biotechnology Research Institute (NRC-BRI) .

Reportedly, the peptide was identified by phage display and shown to be a strong and specific binder of human clusterin as measured using sensitive methods such as nuclear magnetic resonance and surface plasmon resonance. The ability of the peptide, designated P3378, to specifically home to and image tumors in vivo when fluorescently labeled with a near infra red probe was demonstrated by real-time imaging on live tumor-bearing mice.

The company said that the transaction with the NRC-BRI follows a previous license agreement concluded in October 2007 concerning a family of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that bind specifically to tumor-associated clusterin. Clusterin secreted from cancer cells has recently been identified as a potent inducer of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a process that contributes to metastatic invasion of tumors.

Mario Filion, executive VP and CSO of Alethia, said: “With the perspective of initiating clinical studies in the near future, we felt it was important to undertake the development of a companion diagnostic test with the goals of accurately identifying the cancer patients who would benefit the most from an anti-clusterin-based therapy and a monitoring of response to treatment. This peptide constitutes the basis for the development of a new molecular imaging tool that will accurately detect tumor-associated clusterin in cancer patients.”