CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cavion LLC, a pharmaceutical company developing T-type calcium channel (Cav3) inhibitors for the treatment of oncologic and neurologic diseases, announced today that research collaborators from the University of Virginia, The Johns Hopkins University and Adult Brain Tumor Consortium, and Yale University will present data corroborating the use of Cavion’s novel cancer drug mibefradil as a brain cancer therapy at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO) being held in San Antonio, Texas, November 19-22.
“We are excited to have mibefradil’s potential to treat glioblastoma, the most common and most deadly brain tumor, gain more strong support from three basic science and clinical perspectives,” stated Cavion President and CEO Andrew Krouse. “These promising data regarding glioblastoma stem cells, 18F-FLT-PET imaging, and concurrent Cav3 inhibition with radiation therapy reflect Cavion’s orthogonal approach to treating cancer.”
Roger Abounader, MD, PhD, of the University of Virginia School of Medicine, will give an oral poster presentation entitled Inhibition of T-type calcium channels sensitizes glioblastoma stem cells to chemotherapy. Dr. Abounader’s data provides mechanistic and functional rationales for the use of Cav3.2 inhibitors such as mibefradil as a new adjuvant therapy to enhance the efficacy of cytotoxic therapies in glioblastoma by targeting glioblastoma stem cells.
Matthias Holdhoff, MD, PhD of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins will present a poster entitled Results of exploratory 18F-FLT PET imaging in ten patients treated with the selective T-type calcium channel blocker mibefradil followed by temozolomide in the Adult Brain Tumor Consortium study ABTC-1101. This poster displays the results of a translational portion of a multi-site National Cancer Institute Adult Brain Tumor Consortium (ABTC) and Cavion-sponsored Phase 1b dose escalation trial (NCT01480050) in which 18F-FLT PET was used as an exploratory imaging biomarker to assess the influence of mibefradil on overall tracer accumulation in brain tumors. Dr. Holdhoff presented preliminary results from the dose escalation trial, which completed enrollment in November 2014, at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in June.
Dr. Ranjit Bindra, MD, PhD, of the Yale Cancer Center will present preliminary results from an ongoing Yale and Cavion-sponsored Phase 1b clinical trial (NCT02202993) suggesting that mibefradil can be safely co-administered as a novel radiosensitizer with hypofractionated radiation and has the potential to improve disease response in a poster entitled Mibefradil dihydrochloride with hypofractionated radiation for recurrent glioblastoma: preliminary results of a phase I dose expansion trial.
About Cavion LLC
Cavion LLC is a privately held clinical stage platform pharmaceutical company creating therapies engaging the T-type calcium channel (Cav3) for the treatment of neurologic and oncologic diseases. The T-type calcium channel is an emerging molecular target for cancer and thalamocortical dysrhythmia diseases.
Cavion is co-sponsoring a Phase 1 trial (NCT02202993) of the T-type calcium channel blocker mibefradil combined with hypofractionated radiation therapy for the treatment of recurrent glioblastoma multiforme with the Yale University Comprehensive Cancer Center. A multi-site NCI Adult Brain Tumor Consortium-sponsored Phase 1b clinical trial (NCT01480050) of mibefradil administered with temozolomide in brain cancer recently completed enrollment. Cavion is currently planning a clinical trial of mibefradil in newly diagnosed brain cancer and intends to launch its first neurology clinical trial in 2016.
Forward-Looking Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, and includes statements that are not historical facts. Actual results could differ significantly from results discussed. Cavion LLC disclaims any intent or obligation to update forward-looking statements, except as required by law.
