SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 16, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Myrexis, Inc. (Nasdaq:MYRX), a biotechnology company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing novel treatments for cancer, today announced it will present a poster at the Cancer and Metabolism: Pathways to the Future meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland, as well as two additional posters at the 22nd European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), National Cancer Institute (NCI) and American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Symposium on "Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics" November 16-19, 2010, in Berlin, Germany.
The posters will highlight key findings from Myrexis' cancer metabolism inhibitor (CMI) program, including the Company's potential best-in-class Nampt inhibitor, MPC-9528, which is currently in preclinical IND studies and has demonstrated flexible dosing and dramatic tumor regression across multiple tumor types.
| Cancer & Metabolism: Pathways to the Future; Edinburgh, Scotland | |
| Title: | MPC-9528, a cancer metabolism inhibitor, |
| demonstrates improved efficacy in a Naprt1 deficient | |
| cancer xenograft model with co-administration of | |
| efficacy in a Naprt1 deficient nicotinic acid. | |
| Date & Time: | September 20, 2010; 9AM - 5PM British Time (BT) |
| Poster Number: | 10 |
|
22nd EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on "Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics"; Berlin, Germany |
|
| Title: | Anti-Tumor Activity of MPC-9528, GMX1778, and |
| APO866: Nampt Inhibitors of Three Structural Classes | |
| Date & Time: | Nov 17, 2010; 12 PM – 2 PM Central European Time |
| (CET) | |
| Poster Number: | 6LB |
| Title: | The Nampt inhibitor MPC-9528 and the PARP |
| inhibitor olaparib synergize in killing a BRCA-- | |
| deficient cancer cell line | |
| Date & Time: | Nov 17, 2010; 12 PM – 2 PM CET |
| Poster Number: | 7LB |
About MPC-9528
MPC-9528 is an orally-bioavailable, small molecule Cancer Metabolism Inhibitor (CMI) discovered by Myrexis that is currently in preclinical development for the treatment of a variety of cancers. MPC-9528 potently and selectively inhibits nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase, or Nampt, an enzyme critical for converting nicotinamide into nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD). Cellular processes such as glucose metabolism, DNA repair and gene expression require and consume NAD. Cancer cells have increased NAD requirements and are highly sensitive to NAD depletion. Blocking the Nampt-NAD pathway severely inhibits cancer cell metabolism, resulting in energy deprivation and ultimately cell death. In non-clinical models, MPC-9528 causes dramatic tumor regressions across multiple tumor types.
Normal healthy human cells produce NAD by a number of different pathways. Additional research however, indicates that that many cancers, as much as 40% of all cancers, lose the ability to produce NAD by these alternative pathways and become absolutely dependent upon Nampt activity. Patients with these tumor types may be particularly responsive to MPC-9528 therapy and a simple companion diagnostic could be used to easily identify these patients. MPC-9528 is primed to be the best-in-class Nampt inhibitor with potential for treating a wide variety of cancers.
About Myrexis, Inc.
Myrexis, Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing novel treatments for cancer. The Company has leveraged a unique understanding of the genetic causes of human disease to generate a strong pipeline of clinical and preclinical product candidates. These include compounds with distinct mechanisms of action and novel chemical structures that have first-in-class and/or best-in-class therapeutic potential. Myrexis is led by an experienced management team with expertise in human genetics, protein-protein interaction technology, chemical proteomic drug discovery and clinical and commercial development.
For more information, please visit www.myrexis.com.
The Myrexis, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=6327
Forward-looking statement safe harbor
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements relating to the attributes and potential efficacy of Myrexis' product candidate MPC-9528. These "forward-looking statements" are based on management's current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" contained in Myrexis' Form 10-K, for the year ended June 30, 2010, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 13, 2010, as well as any updates to those risk factors filed from time to time in Myrexis' Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q or Current Reports on Form 8-K. All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and Myrexis undertakes no duty to update this information unless required by law.