Tigris Pharmaceuticals, a drug development company, has initiated dosing in a Phase I clinical trial of GGTI-2418, a synthetic peptidomimetic inhibitor of geranylgeranyltransferase I that induces apoptosis by downregulating several pivotal oncogenic and tumor survival pathways.
The primary objective of the company’s Phase I trial with GGTI-2418 is to determine its safety, tolerability, and recommended Phase II dose. Patients with metastatic solid tumors for which standard treatments have failed, or for whom standard therapies are not available, will be evaluated. The number of patients to be enrolled will depend on the number of patient cohorts investigated until dose-limiting toxicity is reached.
Tigris has in-licensed the exclusive worldwide rights to GGTI-2418 from Yale University and the University of South Florida. Said Sebti, director of the drug discovery program at the Moffitt Cancer Center and Andrew Hamilton, professor of chemistry at Yale University were the co-inventors of GGTI-2418.
Edmundo Muniz, president and CEO of Tigris, said: This is the first geranylgeranyltransferase inhibitor to move to clinical phase studies. Initiation of this Phase I study of GGTI-2418 in these two top Phase I cancer research centers is a significant step in the development of this first-in-class molecule to treat cancer in many different tumor types.