Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company, has announced that one of the company’s collaborators, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, has initiated a Phase I human clinical trial of ALN-VSP in the US.
ALN-VSP, a product that utilizes Tekmira’s stable nucleic-acidlipid particle technology (SNALP), is being developed as a treatment for advanced liver cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma and other solid tumors with liver involvement.
A milestone payment is payable to Tekmira upon the initiation of the Phase I trial and additional milestone payments become due as ALN-VSP is advanced through development.
Alnylam’s ALN-VSP Phase I trial, being conducted in the US, is a multi-center, open label, dose escalation study designed to enroll approximately 55 patients with advanced solid tumors with liver involvement, who have failed to respond to or have progressed after standard treatment. The primary objective is to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of intravenous ALN-VSP, including demonstration of the maximum tolerated dose.
Mark Murray, president and CEO of Tekmira, said: We are pleased that Alnylam has initiated its Phase I clinical trial of ALN-VSP as this represents an important milestone in the advancement of our SNALP technology. We will continue to support Alnylam and the ALN-VSP product as we manufacture the ALN-VSP clinical supplies on behalf of Alnylam.