Benzinga | Mar 19, 2021 10:00AM EDT

Artelo Biosciences Reports Accepted Into Alderley Park Oncology Development Program For FABP5 Inhibitor Biomarker Development

Artelo Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARTL), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of therapeutics that target lipid-signaling pathways, including the endocannabinoid system, today announced that it has been accepted into the first round of the Alderley Park Oncology Development Program, a UK national program designed to offer advice, guidance, and financial support to develop and progress innovative oncology projects.

The Alderley Park Oncology Development Program is funded by Innovate UK and Cancer Research UK and supported by major oncology-focused pharmaceutical companies including, AstraZeneca, J&J, GSK and Roche. Artelo's application is focused on developing a pathway to a validated FABP5 biomarker.

"It has recently been shown that FABP5 was detectable in saliva and breath condensate for certain tumor types, including multiple myeloma and lung cancer, suggesting that these readily available and non-invasive biofluids could be used to measure FABP5 expression as a predictive biomarker of both disease prognosis and also response to FABP5 inhibition in cancers with high unmet need," stated Dr. Andy Yates, Chief Scientific Officer at Artelo. "While much of the cancer-related research to date for Artelo's FABP5 inhibitor has been in hormonally driven cancers such as breast, prostate and cervical carcinomas, the detection of elevated FABP5 associated with other tumor types is suggesting the target for ART26.12 may be more broadly relevant," added Dr. Yates.

"We are honored that our application has been accepted into the Alderley Park Oncology Program," stated Gregory D. Gorgas, Artelo's President and Chief Executive Officer. "We believe our FABP5 inhibitor holds significant promise as a target for cancer therapeutics. This acceptance could bring additional funding to our overall FABP5 inhibitor program, which has separately received nearly $8 million in support from the U.S. government and can allow our scientists to collaborate with leading UK research institutes and leading oncology pharmaceutical companies to develop a personalized medicine strategy for ART26.12."