Tiltan Pharma Ltd has begun a Phase II clinical trial of its TL-118 drug for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. The trial will include 80 patients at three Israeli hospitals, and will take about a year.
The patients have not been treated with chemotherapy. The 40-patient control group will be treated with standard chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer, and the treated group will receive TL-118 in addition to standard-of-care chemotherapy.
TL-118 prevents blood flow to tumors, thereby preventing their growth, compared with chemotherapy. The drug was developed by Dr. Muli Ben-Sasson of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and commercialized by Yissum Technology Transfer Company. Tiltan is one of the more advanced portfolio companies of Yissim's holding company Integra Holdings Ltd. which it set up to finance companies that have left the university's labs but have not yet reached proof of concept stage that would attract strategic investors or venture capital funds.
TL-118 was found safe and tolerable in a Phase I clinical trial on 30 patients at the Sheba Medical Center Tel-Hashomer. Earlier preclinical trials found that the drug significantly inhibit tumor growth, and abolish the tumors in all treated animals when combined with chemotherapy.
Tiltan COO Dr. Dan Goldstaub said, "We are very excited with the results that we have seen on pancreatic cancer in animals and the initial safety and tolerability outcome in the first few human patients treated with TL-118 under compassionate use permission. We look forward to establishing TL-118's efficacy in pancreatic cancer in this clinical trial."
Tiltan is also evaluating TL-118 for the treatment of prostate cancer. 50 patients have been recruited for a Phase II clinical trial in Israel under US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) protocols.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 14, 2012
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