Abstracts on Callisto Drug Candidates from Degrasyn Class Presented at Scientific Conference on Cancer; Studies of Degrasyn Drug Candidates Highlight Mechanism-of-Action and Pharmacokinetic Properties of Selected Drug Candidates.NEW YORK New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of -- Callisto Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AMEX AMEX See: American Stock Exchange :KAL) (FWB (Fixed Wireless Broadband) See fixed wireless. :CA4), a developer of new drug treatments in the fight against cancer and other major health threats, announced today that four abstracts on the Degrasyn class of drug candidates were subjects of poster presentations at the 97th annual meeting of the American Association American Association refers to one of the following professional baseball leagues:
AACR Anglo-American Cataloging Rules AACR Australasian Association of Cancer Registries AACR African Armed Conflicts Resolved ) in Washington D.C., April 1-5, 2006, a leading scientific conference in the field of cancer research. The four abstracts presented at the AACR conference covered mechanism-of-action, structure-activity relationship and preclinical pharmacology studies on a unique class of anti-cancer compounds, termed Degrasyns, recently licensed to Callisto from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, authored by a team of scientists at M. D. Anderson including Drs. Waldemar Priebe, Timothy Madden, Nicholas Donato, Moshe Talpaz, Vaibhav Kapuria, Geoffrey Bartholomeusz, Slawomir Szymanski, Izabela Fokt, Jia-Ju Bao, Charles Conrad, Michael Kupferman and Jeffrey N. Myers.
The abstracts included:
1. #3012 entitled: "WP1130, a small molecular weight compound,
inhibits JAK2-STAT3 signaling through a unique degradation
mechanism"
2. #3022 entitled: "Degradation of c-Myc by WP1130 Through Activation
of a Novel Proteosomal-Dependent Pathway"
3. #4853 entitled: "The preclinical pharmacology of WP1066, a potent
small molecule inhibitor of the JAK2/STAT3 pathway"
4. LB-298 entitled: "Design, synthesis and structure-activity
relationships of novel JAK2/STAT3 signaling inhibitors"
These abstracts highlighted the unique mechanism of the Degrasyn class of compounds. The scientists demonstrated that WP1130 induces degradation of JAK2 through a novel proteolytic pro·te·o·lyt·ic adj. Relating to, characterized by, or promoting proteolysis. proteolytic (pro″teolit´ik), adj mechanism, and induces down-regulation of c-Myc by activating a proteolytic pathway. Compounds that inhibit c-Myc activity and JAK2-STAT3 signaling are being actively sought for possible development as anticancer therapies. "The research by these group of scientists at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center is at the very cutting edge of cancer drug discovery in a very exciting field of new drug discovery, and appears to represent a new novel mechanism to affect cancer cell death," said Dr. Donald Picker, Callisto's Executive Vice President of Research and Development. "Callisto intends to identify a clinical candidate from this interesting class of compounds and advance it towards the clinic." About Degrasyns Degrasyns represent a new class of drugs that were licensed to Callisto Pharmaceuticals from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in January 2006. They were designed and synthesized by Dr. Waldemar Priebe, Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the Department of Experimental Therapeutics at M. D. Anderson and his co-workers. The novel anti-cancer activity of these analogs relates to their ability to selectively degrade key proteins that are involved in tumor cell proliferation and survival. So far, this degradation appears to be specific for c-Myc, BCR-ABL and JAK2, all important targets for a wide range of important tumors. About Callisto Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Callisto is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of new drugs to treat various forms of cancer and other serious afflictions. Callisto's drug candidates in development currently include anti-cancer agents in clinical development, in addition to drugs for other significant health care markets, including ulcerative colitis ulcerative colitis Inflammation of the colon, especially of its mucous membranes. The inflamed membranes develop patches of tiny ulcers, and the diarrhea contains blood and mucus. and biodefense. One of the Company's lead drug candidates, L-Annamycin, is being developed as a treatment for forms of relapsed acute leukemia acute leukemia Hematology A rapidly progressive malignancy of sudden onset, characterized by an uncontrolled 'clonal' proliferation of immature WBCs which replace BM and spill into the peripheral circulation; untreated AL may be fatal in wks to months. , a currently incurable blood cancer. Callisto initiated a clinical trial of L-Annamycin in adult relapsed acute lymphocytic leukemia acute lymphocytic leukemia n. See acute lymphoblastic leukemia. acute lymphocytic leukemia Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, ALL A malignant lymphoproliferative process that commonly affects children and young adults patients in 4Q 2005. L-Annamycin, a new compound from the anthracycline family of proven anti-cancer drugs, has a novel therapeutic profile, including activity against resistant diseases and significantly reduced cardiotoxicity, or damage to the heart, compared to currently available drug alternatives. Another anti-cancer drug, Atiprimod, is in development to treat relapsed multiple myeloma multiple myeloma A malignant proliferation of abnormal plasma cells that populate the marrow-containing bones of the body. The affected plasma cells produce myeloma protein, a monoclonal antibody that replaces normal antibodies in the blood, thereby increasing susceptibility , a blood cancer, and advanced carcinoid carcinoid /car·ci·noid/ (kahr´si-noid) a yellow circumscribed tumor arising from enterochromaffin cells, usually in the gastrointestinal tract; the term is sometimes used to refer specifically to the gastrointestinal tumor cancer. Atiprimod is presently in Phase I/IIa human clinical trials in relapsed multiple myeloma patients, and advanced cancer patients, respectively. Callisto also has drugs in preclinical development for gastro-intestinal inflammation, and a program focused on the development of a drug to protect against Staphylococcus staphylococcus (stăf'ələkŏk`əs), any of the pathogenic bacteria, parasitic to humans, that belong to the genus Staphylococcus. The spherical bacterial cells (cocci) typically occur in irregular clusters [Gr. and Streptococcus streptococcus (strĕp'təkŏk`əs), any of a group of gram-positive bacteria, genus Streptococcus, some of which cause disease. biowarfare agents. Callisto has exclusive worldwide licenses from AnorMED Inc. and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center to develop, manufacture, use and sell Atiprimod and L-Annamycin, respectively. For investor-specific information about Callisto, including recent news and stock price data, please visit http://www.trilogy-capital.com/tcp/callisto/. For an Investor Fact Sheet about Callisto, please visit http://www.trilogy-capital.com/tcp/callisto/factsheet.html. To view an informational presentation of the Company's development pipeline of drug candidates, visit http://www.trilogy-capital.com/tcp/callisto/powerpoint.html. Callisto is also listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange Frankfurt Stock Exchange The largest of Germany's eight securities exchanges, operated by Deutsche Borse AS. under the ticker symbol Ticker Symbol An arrangement of characters (usually letters) representing a particular security listed on an exchange or otherwise traded publicly. When a company issues securities to the public marketplace, it selects an available ticker symbol for its securities which investors CA4. For additional information, visit www.callistopharma.com. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements made in this press release are forward-looking. Such statements are indicated by words such as "expect," "should," "anticipate" and similar words indicating uncertainty in facts and figures. Although Callisto believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. As discussed in the Callisto Pharmaceuticals Annual Report on Form 10-K Form 10-K A report required by the SEC from exchange-listed companies that provides for annual disclosure of certain financial information. Form 10-K See 10-K. for the year ended December 31, 2005, and other periodic reports, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of the following factors, among others: uncertainties associated with product development, the risk that products that appeared promising in early clinical trials do not demonstrate efficacy in larger-scale clinical trials, the risk that Callisto will not obtain approval to market its products, the risks associated with dependence upon key personnel and the need for additional financing. |
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