Axelar Presents Data On AXL1717

Axelar has reported that promising data from the ongoing Phase I/II clinical trial concerning their lead anticancer product AXL1717, is expected to be presented at the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, Boston, Massachusetts, US. AXL1717 is an insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) receptor inhibitor.

AXL1717 is an orally administered small-molecule IGF-1 receptor inhibitor with no effect on the important and almost identical insulin receptor. Pre-clinical data on AXL1717 have shown an extraordinary anti-tumor efficacy in animal models, including complete regression of a wide range of human cancers.

The clinical trial is being conducted in Sweden on advanced-stage cancer patients with documented progressive solid tumors and no remaining treatment options. The first part of the trial has been successfully completed and showed that AXL1717 can be administered as a single-day BID treatment in very high doses without dose-limiting toxicity.

The second part of the trial is ongoing and the patients are now being given AXL1717 daily for 7-28 days BID. Results so far show that AXL1717 can be taken in a multidose setting with good tolerability.

Johan Harmenberg, CEO of Axelar, said: “We are very excited about our new clinical data on AXL1717 and pleased to be able to present them at this important scientific meeting. Of particular interest is that even though the clinical trial so far was not designed to demonstrate efficacy, a number of patients show signs of tumor necrosis on PET (positron emission tomography).

“Targeting cancer cells with AXL1717 instead of conventional cytotoxic chemotherapy may become an effective and well-tolerated treatment alternative for cancer patients in the future”.