Copenhagen, Denmark, October 13, 2015: Targeting carbohydrates provides a new Danish biotech company, VAR2 Pharmaceuticals, with an effective weapon against cancer.
Today VAR2 Pharmaceuticals announced the publication of breakthrough data in the renowned scientific journal Cancer Cell.
The young Danish biotech company VAR2 Pharmaceuticals faces a possible breakthrough in the fight against cancer, which may result in broad treatment opportunities in several high-risk cancer types. The hunt for a weapon to fight malaria in pregnant women has revealed that armed malaria proteins can be conveniently exploited to kill cancer cells.
“By testing thousands of samples from brain tumors to leukemias, we see evidence that our malaria protein is able to attack more than 90% of all tumor types”, explains Ali Salanti, CEO. “There is a huge market for broadly effective cancer drugs and the prospects for a small biotech company with such a strong product are very interesting. Millions of people around the world may benefit from the treatment, which we expect will be relatively easy to administer and monitor once fully developed. If our test results continue to look promising, we trust that VAR2 Pharmaceuticals will be able to attract innovative partners who are looking for the next possible breakthrough within cancer treatment.”
Mai-Britt Zocca (member of the Board of Directors) is optimistic: “Health care systems worldwide are crying out for new effective cancer treatments. We believe that our technology can make a difference for many cancer patients in the future. Indeed, the results published today provide hope for a new cure against cancer.”
The development of a malaria based drug conjugate therapeutic is being pursued as a partnership with Kairos Therapeutics, a Canadian biotech company which is contributing their novel toxin, linker, and site-specific conjugation technology to the program. Besides developing the malaria protein into a novel anti-cancer drug conjugate, VAR2 Pharmaceuticals has an immunotherapy program as well as a program developing companion diagnostic tools.
About VAR2 Pharmaceuticals
VAR2 Pharmaceuticals is a privately held biotechnology company engaged in the design and development of proprietary therapeutic proteins targeting cancer-specific carbohydrate structures for multiple cancer indications. The company has a portfolio of proteins with unique affinity and specificity for cancer-associated carbohydrates for the development of treatments for high-risk cancers where no effective therapy is available. The technology is based on groundbreaking discoveries made by Ali Salanti and his group at the University of Copenhagen and Mads Daugaard at the University of British Columbia.