Benzinga | Nov 19, 2020 07:32AM EST

Moleculin To Present Data At American Society For Hematology Annual Conference

HOUSTON, Nov. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Moleculin Biotech, Inc., (NASDAQ:MBRX) (Moleculin or the Company), a clinical stage pharmaceutical company with a broad portfolio of drug candidates targeting highly resistant tumors and viruses, today announced that new animal data has shown highly improved activity against acute myeloid leukemia ("AML") when used in combination with the commonly used antileukemic drug Ara-C (also referred to as "cytarabine") versus single agent. The data is being presented at the 62nd Annual Meeting & Exposition of the American Society for Hematology ("ASH") under the title: "High Efficacy of Liposomal Annamycin (L-ANN) in Combination with Cytarabine in Syngeneic p53-null AML Mouse Model."

This study was conducted in a highly aggressive AML mouse model where median survival is approximately 13 days. For animals treated with the combination of Annamycin and Ara-C, median survival ranged from 56 to 76 days, thus expanding median survival by 585%, with some animals being completely cured. The conclusion of the study is that these experiments support initiation of clinical development of the combination of Annamycin and Ara-C in AML patients.

"This is a very important discovery that will most likely change the course of development for L-Annamycin," commented Walter Klemp, Chairman and CEO of Moleculin. "While our current AML trials are encouraging and we are seeing significant activity with Annamycin as a single agent in relapsed AML patients, this data makes a compelling case that we should move as quickly as possible to begin a clinical trial in AML for the combination of Annamycin with Ara-C, something we are calling 'AnnAraC.' We believe the future for Annamycin just became even more promising."

Mr. Klemp concluded: "Annamycin has already shown human activity as a single agent in its two Phase 1 AML clinical trials, including one complete response, and showing no signs of cardiotoxicity, unlike other anthracyclines. And, it now appears, based on the observed synergy in vitro and confirmatory in vivo data, that the combination of Annamycin and Ara-C could be more effective in a clinical setting than Annamycin as a single agent. This would be consistent with current practice to use Ara-C in combination with an anthracycline like Annamycin. The current first-line therapy for AML patients is the combination of an anthracycline and Ara-C in a regimen referred to as "7+3" where Ara-C is administered daily for 7 days in parallel with 3 daily doses of an anthracycline. Simply substituting the currently used anthracycline in a similar 7+3 regimen with Annamycin would represent a familiar and well-practiced treatment modality. Beyond that, it would have the added advantages that Annamycin is active against tumor cells resistant to doxorubicin and, importantly, removes the concern for cardiotoxicity, a significant toxic side effect of currently used anthracyclines."