Thursday, February 16, 2012

Curis, Debiopharm move tumor drug forward in trials

By Patricia Resende, Correspondent

Just weeks after announcing that it hit a milestone with its $10 million payment from Genentech Inc. when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the drug Erivedge, Curis Inc. said it will begin Phase 1b clinical trials of its Debio0932 molecule for cancer treatment.

Lexington-based Curis teamed up with Switzerland-based Debiopharm Group, a biopharmaceutical group of medical companies, to extend its Phase 1a study of the molecule that was used by patients suffering with advance solid cancer tumors.

Approximately 30 patients will be treated with the drug as part of the Phase 1b expansion study, the companies announced in a news release.  The reason for the expanded study is to test the safety and Debio 0932 at the recommended dose level and to evaluate the anti-tumor activity in the patients with the solid tumors, which include non-small cell lung cancer. Curis will use Debio0932 in future clinical studies this year, according to Dan Passeri, the company’s CEO.

It has been a year of consecutive milestones for Curis. Just weeks before receiving $10 million from Genentech in January, it received $6 million from the company after the Roche Group (of which Genetnech is a member) submitted its vismodegib molecule (now Erivedge) to the European Medicines Agency for the treatment of advanced basal cell carcinoma.

The $16 million in milestone payments came after Genentech gave Curis $8 million in November after vismodegib was first submitted to the FDA.

Curis also received a $4 million boost in November from The Lymphoma and Leukemia Society to move its CUDC-907 compound, created for the potential treatment of patients with B-cell lymphoma and multiple myeloma, past the preclinical stage.