Business Wire
April 14, 2008
PRINCETON, N.J. -- PhytoMedical Technologies, Inc., today announced that a series of positive outcomes from the Company's ongoing development of its patented anti-cancer compounds have prompted researchers to now undertake their first-ever efficacy studies, an important advancement in the drug development process.
In contrast to other anti-cancer approaches, PhytoMedical's compounds under development are designed to initiate a precision assault for killing cancer cells, taking straight aim at the 'blueprint' inside the cancer cell, thereby directly choking its ability to grow, replicate, and survive. Using this approach, the Company's novel anti-cancer compounds have been shown to kill several difficult-to-kill cancers in numerous in vitro tests.
"Our patented anti-cancer compounds have produced a string of successes against several difficult-to-treat human cancer cells in recent months," explained PhytoMedical President and CEO, Mr. Greg Wujek, "Now, in the third phase of our drug development program, we begin efficacy testing, which, in combination with recently announced toxicity testing studies, are fundamental advances in the development of our compounds. We are proud to have accomplished so much, so quickly."
According to researchers, results from previous tests of PhytoMedical's novel compounds have demonstrated their ability to successfully kill cells from several of the most difficult-to-treat human cancers in in-vitro environments, including brain, colon, and small-cell lung cancer. Scientists will now escalate their research efforts, undertaking new tests designed to measure how effectively PhytoMedical's anti-cancer compounds are able to kill human cancer cells in in-vivo animal studies.
PhytoMedical's Cancer Research: Killing Cancer's DNA
PhytoMedical is developing a novel class of patented anti-cancer agents that have a 'cytotoxic' or poisonous affinity for cancer cells. These new compounds are designed to bind more tightly to cancer cell DNA than many conventional anticancer drugs by a process called bis-intercalation or "double binding," much like a molecular staple. Because the DNA is the blueprint of life for the cancer cell, such binding stops the replication of the DNA, which prevents the growth of the cancer cell and it dies.
DNA is present in the nucleus of every cell of all living organisms, which are constantly dividing through a process in which the DNA in the nucleus of the original cell replicates itself to be present in the nuclei of the two new ("daughter") cells. If this replication cannot occur, the cell will die and the organism will eventually stop growing and die. Cancer is characterized by the development of abnormal cells that divide uncontrollably and have the ability to infiltrate and destroy normal body tissue.
At present, anticancer molecules designed to block the replication of DNA do so through "intercalation," a mechanism in which the drug inserts itself between one set of adjacent base pairs of the DNA. PhytoMedical believes a more effective anticancer strategy is to design molecules ("bis-intercalators") that can intercalate simultaneously at two DNA sites, thus further increasing the binding between the drug and the DNA of specific cancer cells in order to stop their replication and ultimately resulting in the death of the cancer cell.
About PhytoMedical Technologies, Inc.
PhytoMedical Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB: PYTO; Frankfurt Stock Exchange: ET6), together with its wholly owned subsidiaries, is a pharmaceutical company focused on research, development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products.
Copyright Business Wire 2008
