NeuroVive Pharmaceutical, the mitochondrial medicine company, will present preclinical data from a new generation of sanglifehrin-based compounds with potent inhibitory effects on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells and anti-cancer activity in an experimental model of HCC at the scientific conference EASL HCC Summit held in Geneva, Switzerland, 2-5 February, 2017.
The company has explored anti-cancer effects in a new proprietary subset of sanglifehrin-based compounds. Results from a recently generated model compound, in which the anti-cancer activity has been optimized, show up to 500 times more potent inhibitory effects on human hepatocellular cancer cells (in vitro) compared to the existing registered drug for the treatment of advanced HCC – sorafenib said the company.
Furthermore, the company explained that this compound class also demonstrated anti-cancer activity in an experimental (in vivo) model of HCC, after oral as well as intraperitoneal dosing. The compounds were not toxic to normal cells and well tolerated in vivo.
The results are summarized in a poster with the title Preclinical analysis of sanglifehrin-based cyclophilin inhibitors showing potential for treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma which will be presented at the conference, as company announced in its press release on Thursday.
Magnus Hansson, Chief Medical Officer at NeuroVive said that this new sanglifehrin-based compound class, which the company has optimized for anti-cancer activity, offers a new therapeutic opportunity to combat HCC through a “unique mechanism of action”.