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news.Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA) has signed an exclusive license agreement with Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland to develop and market PSMA-SR6, a receptor ligand of Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA) for clinical therapeutic and diagnostic purposes.
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AAA will focus on developing this treatment and its companion diagnostic for prostate cancer through novel molecular nuclear medicine techniques similar to those implemented for the development of Lutathera and Somakit. Prostate cancer affects nearly 1 in 7 men during their lifetime worldwide.
The terms of the agreement include payment to Johns Hopkins of an upfront licensing fee, as well as certain milestone and royalty payments.
AAA CEO Stefano Buono said: "This licensing agreement is the first step toward broadening our development pipeline by leveraging a formula that we have already successfully applied to develop our lead therapeutic and diagnostic candidates Lutathera and Somakit. We plan to radiolabel PSMA-SR6, to develop a 177Lu-PSMA-SR6 to treat and monitor prostate cancer and a 68Ga-PSMA-SR6, which will help to diagnose and stage disease.
"The PSMA expression pathway has been widely investigated with labelled antibodies, but we believe that a small molecule, with very high specificity and rapid uptake into tumors and clearance from non-targeted organs could be the ideal candidate for a full theragnostic approach. We are very pleased to partner with the Johns Hopkins University as they have been pioneering and leading this new field for many years.
Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures executive director Neil Veloso said: "Our license agreement with AAA extends Johns Hopkins University’s research leadership in PSMA to benefit patients.
"We are very pleased that AAA has selected PSMA-SR6 for full development for commercial applications in an area of significant patient need."
AAA is planning to support a proof-of-concept study in humans that may start in 2016 for both diagnostic and therapeutic applications of PSMA-SR6.
PSMA-SR6 is a unique second-generation selective prostate cancer PSMA receptor ligand developed by Dr Martin Pomper at Johns Hopkins University.
PSMA-SR6 has a unique structure and is selective for PSMA expressed on prostate cancer tumor cells. It belongs to a new class of PSMA receptor ligands with high potential as diagnostic and therapeutic markers for prostate cancer. Studies have consistently demonstrated PSMA expression in all types of prostate tissue and an increased PSMA expression in cancer tissue.