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Wintherix Uses Pfizer Library to Find Wnt Inhibitors for Cancer(BioWorld Today Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) By Trista Morrison Staff Writer Founded in January, San Diego-based Wintherix LLC is knee-deep in drug screening efforts that it hopes will result in small-molecule Wnt inhibitors for the treatment of cancer. The Wnt pathway is activated in cancers of the colon, breast, prostate, lung and blood. According to Wintherix Chief Scientific Officer John Hood, more than 500,000 new cases of cancer each year involve Wnt activation. Wnt also is believed to be required for self-renewal of cancer stem cells, Hood said. Research has indicated that despite oncologists' best efforts to attack tumors with surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and a battery of targeted drugs, any cancer stem cells not destroyed will use their self-renewing properties to grow another tumor, allowing the cancer to rear its ugly head time and time again. Several biotechs are aiming to stop the vicious remission/relapse cycle by specifically targeting cancer stem cells. Raven Biotechnologies Inc., which is being acquired by MacroGenics Inc., has early stage antibodies targeted to cancer stem cells, as does Arius Research Inc. Last year, OncoMed Pharmaceuticals Inc. signed a potential $1.4 billion deal with GlaxoSmithKline plc for preclinical antibodies targeting cancer stem cells. (See BioWorld Today, Dec. 11, 2007.) Yet not many companies are focusing on the Wnt pathway, and there are no Wnt-specific drugs approved. Avalon Pharmaceuticals Inc. has presented data indicating that its preclinical small-molecule Beta-catenin inhibitor program affects Wnt signaling, and Genentech Inc. has an early stage, small-molecule Wnt program. A few others have Wnt promoting programs for wound healing and other regenerative applications. Hood said the lack of progress with Wnt inhibitors has to do with the fact that Wnt is not an easy target. Wnt pathway mutations occur downstream from standard biotech cancer drug targets like receptors and kinases, making them "not as easily druggable," he explained. To zero in on Wnt, Wintherix has developed assays that mimic Wnt-mediated cancer. The technology originated in the lab of Wintherix co-founder Dennis Carson, director of the Moores Cancer Center and professor at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. Carson's work caught the eye of Catherine Mackey, senior vice president of global research and development at Pfizer Inc. Pfizer made an undisclosed equity investment in the start-up, and Wintherix became one of the first occupants of Pfizer's La Jolla, Calif.-based incubator. Pfizer also made a technology investment in Wintherix, providing access to its small-molecule libraries for screening. Hood said the start-up has just initiated screening efforts and hopes to have lead chemotypes by early 2009, with a clinical candidate identified by the end of next year. Hood noted that Wintherix will own the molecules it selects from Pfizer's libraries and said the big pharma doesn't hold any exclusive option rights. Buy-back options were a concern voiced by venture capitalists when Pfizer and Biogen Idec Inc. launched their incubator programs last year. Some investors had worried that if industry incubators demanded such restrictive clauses, it could cap the future value of their incubated companies and hamper venture capital interest. (See BioWorld Today, March 19, 2007.) For Wintherix, attracting venture capital shouldn't be a problem, given the buzz around cancer stem cells - but it isn't a near-term objective. The company has sufficient funding to last into 2010, although Hood said it may seek venture backing in late 2009 once it has identified its clinical candidate. Wintherix has 12 employees including Hood, who previously served as director of research at TargeGen Inc., and CEO Osman Kibar, a co-founder of Genoptix Inc. n ? ? Copyright ? 2008 Thomson BioWorld, All Rights Reserved. |