Pharmacyclics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative small-molecule drugs to treat cancer and immune mediated diseases recently announced that they will present the results for ibrutinib (IMBRUVICA) during the 2015 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), taking place in Philadelphia between the 18th and the 22nd of April.
Several other abstracts related to Pharmacyclics’ studies have also been accepted for presentation during the AACR, including data from studies in blood cancers and solid tumors. Pharmacyclics and Janssen Biotech, Inc. are partners in the development and commercialization of IMBRUVICA.
IMBRUVICA is a first-in-class therapy that inhibits Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK), and blocks signals that instruct malignant B cells to multiply and spread uncontrollably. “We are very encouraged by the ibrutinib data we are seeing both as a single agent and as a synergistic combination with other treatment options across solid tumor and new hematologic histologies,” said Betty Chang, Ph.D., Head of Research at Pharmacyclics in a press release. “Based on the success to date within ibrutinib’s approved and investigational uses, we remain committed to exploring the further potential of ibrutinib as a backbone of therapy within the broader oncology and hematology arenas.”
The accepted abstract includes:
- “Long-term treatment with single-agent ibrutinib 420 mg leads to durable responses including complete responses in CLL,” a project led by Steven Coutre from Stanford University, which will be presented at 3.15pm on the 19th of April during the Clinical Trials Minisymposium.
- “Combining ibrutinib with immune checkpoint blockade to induce therapeutic antitumor immune response in solid tumors”, a project led by Idit Sagiv-Barfi also from Stanford University and “Ibrutinib enhances the anti-tumor efficacy of CTLA-4 blockade in lymphoma and colon cancer models”, led by Patrick Ng, from Pharmacyclics, Inc, both presented between 1pm and 5pm on the 19th of April during the Immune Checkpoints symposium;
- “Ibrutinib exerts potent antifibrotic activity in a mouse model of pancreatic adenocarcinoma”, a project led by Daniel Masso-Valles from the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) in Barcelona, Spain, presented between 1pm and 5pm on the 19th of April during the Crosstalk of the Microenvironment and the Tumor Clone;
- “Ibrutinib plus proteasome or MALT1 inhibitors overcome resistance to BCR antagonists in CARD11 mutant-expressing B-lymphoma cells”, led by Ling Xue from Pharmacyclics, Inc, presented between 8am and 12pm on the 20th of April at the Inhibitors of UPS and HSP90 Pathways and Other Targets;
- “Ibrutinib significantly improves survival in a human Burkitt lymphoma (BL) xenograft NSG mouse model: Ibrutinib may be a potential adjuvant agent in the treatment of BL”, a project led by Sanghoon Lee from the New York Medical College, presented between 1pm and 5pm on the 20th of April at the MAPK, EGFR, and BTK Inhibitors session;
- “Synergistic effect of ibrutinib and inhibitors targeting TLR signaling in ABC subtype of diffuse large B-Cell lymphoma”, led by Hsu-Ping Kuo from Pharmacyclics, presented from 1pm to 5pm on the 20th of April also during the MAPK, EGFR, and BTK Inhibitors session;
- “The BTK inhibitor ibrutinib (PCI-32765) overcomes paclitaxel resistance resulting from the overexpression of ABCB1 and ABCC10 transporters”, a project led by Hui Zhang from the Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute inJinan, China, presented between 1pm and 5pm, on the 20th of April during the Resistance to Pathway-Targeted Therapeutics session;
- “Specific antitumor activity of the splicing modulator sudemycin and cooperation with ibrutinib in chronic lymphocytic leukemia,” a project led by Sílvia Xargay-Torrent from the IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Spain, presented from 1pm to 5pm on the 20th of April during the MAPK, EGFR, and BTK Inhibitors session.
The list of all accepted ibrutinib data abstracts is also available for consultation of the AACR website.
Sunnyvale, CA-based Pharmacyclics, Inc. currently markets IMBRUVICA and has three product candidates in clinical development and several preclinical molecules in lead optimization. The company believes that the data to be presented on the drug further supports its efficacy in treating melanoma.
