Alchemia program yields cancer candidate

Brisbane biotech Alchemia's (ASX:ACL) drug design program has yielded a promising molecule that significantly inhibits the growth of human prostate tumours in mice.

Alchemia said the compound appeared to work by inhibiting angiogenesis, the proliferation of new blood vessels that fuel rapid tumour growth.

CEO Dr Tracie Ramsdale said while the drug was tested on an animal prostate cancer model, in theory its mode of action suggests it would be generically active against all solid tumours.

The new compound was tested independently by the Institute for Drug Development in San Antonio, Texas.

Alchemia has developed a drug-discovery program based on combinatorial chemistry. The new compound emerged from a synthesis project that builds small molecules by adding functional groups to the multi-directional 'arms' of a compact carbohydrate scaffold.

"Carbohydrate-based drugs have traditionally been regarded as hard to make," Ramsdale said. "Their attraction is that they offer the smallest possible 3-dimensional scaffolds. We're looking to create a diverse set of molecular keys to lock into G-coupled protein receptors -- GCPR-targeted compounds already account for 30 per cent of all drugs on the market."

Ramsdale said Alchemia's platform technology has identified a number of potential GCPR 'hits' for a variety of diseases including cancer, obesity, inflammation and infectious diseases.

She said the company's strategy was to identify new candidate drugs in areas of significant unmet medical need, where the pharmaceutical industry has been unsuccessful in developing suitable leads. It will then seek to establish partnerships with large pharmaceutical companies to develop and commercialise them.