Under the terms of the agreement, privately-held Chicago Labs will receive an upfront fee of $100,000, and is eligible to receive payments upon achievement of certain development, regulatory and sales milestones.
The novel approach developed at University of Illinois and Chicago Labs has the potential to increase the efficacy and reduce the toxicity of marketed chemotherapeutic agents by selectively improving tumor blood perfusion and increasing delivery of anticancer agents to tumor tissue.
In animal models of human cancer, administration of endothelinB agonists prior to paclitaxel (Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Taxol) increased the levels of paclitaxel in the tumor by more than 400%, while not significantly affecting paclitaxel concentration in normal tissues.
“We are delighted to enter into this alliance with Spectrum and look forward to advancing the development of this promising approach to improving the therapeutic benefit of existing anticancer agents,” stated Dr Anil Gulati, president of Chicago Labs.