Benzinga | Oct 13, 2021 01:38PM EDT

Lixte Biotechnology Announces Collaboration With Netherlands Cancer Institute, Oncode Institute To 'Identify The Most Promising Drug Combinations For Its Lead Clinical Compound, LB-100, For Cancer Treatment'

- Lixte Biotechnology Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: LIXT) announced entry into a collaboration with the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam (NKI) , one of the world's leading comprehensive cancer centers, and Oncode Institute, Utrecht, a major independent cancer research center, to identify the most promising drugs to be combined with LB-100, and potentially LB-100 analogues, to be used to treat a range of cancers, as well as to identify the specific molecular mechanisms underlying the identified combinations.



The pre-clinical studies are directed by Professor Ren? Bernards (NKI), a leader in using genome wide functional genetic techniques to identify effective drug combinations, new drug targets, and mechanisms of resistance to cancer drugs. Using this technology, prof. Bernards' group identified the now FDA-approved combination of BRAF and EGFR inhibitors for a group of colon cancer patients (Nature 483, 100-103, 2012), and more recently reported the identification of a new two drug regimen for liver cancer, which in preliminary Phase 1 clinical trials appears to be more active than standard therapy (Nature 595, 730--734, 2021).

Dr. John S. Kovach, CEO and founder of Lixte, said "We are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to collaborate with Professor Bernards and his excellent group. There are many pre-clinical studies demonstrating the ability of our lead compound, LB-100, an inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2A, to potentiate the activity of different cytotoxic drugs. Its ubiquitous activity and low toxicity have made it challenging to select the most promising clinical targets for this novel compound. A targeted approach to cancer treatment has been a long-standing research goal. Prof. Bernards' approach makes it possible to select among a multitude of compounds those most likely to be effective when combined with a second drug and/or in cancers with a particular molecular abnormality. The possibility of identifying which drug in combination with LB-100 and in which type of tumor is most likely to be beneficial is a very exciting prospect."

Professor Bernards commented, "We are excited to work with Lixte to identify the most powerful drug combinations of LB-100 for cancer therapy. Our unbiased genetic approach to identify synthetic lethal drug targets of LB-100 has proven its utility in our previous studies."