Bio-Path Holdings, Inc. Announces The Signing Of A Drug Manufacturing Agreement With Althea Technologies, Inc.
HOUSTON (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Bio-Path Holdings, Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company with drug development operations in Houston, Texas (symbol OTCBB: BPTH), announced today it has entered into a drug manufacturing agreement with Althea Technologies, Inc. The agreement creates a solid working relationship between the parties for the manufacturing development and current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) manufacture of the Company's lead novel therapeutic drug liposomal Grb-2. It is expected that the cGMP drug product manufactured by Althea will be used in the Phase I clinical study of liposomal Grb-2 in chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) which Bio-Path plans to conduct at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center ("M. D. Anderson").
"Althea is an outstanding company with significant experience in the contract manufacture of lyophilized therapeutics," said Peter Nielsen, Bio-Path Holdings President and CEO. "We are confident in their ability to produce the quality of drug we need for our upcoming clinical trials." Mr. Nielsen continued, "Bio-Path is developing a liposome delivery technology platform for nucleic acid drug products. The Company has one siRNA cancer drug product and two antisense cancer drug products that are currently being developed. If Bio-Path's delivery technology performs as we expect it to based on our pre-clinical studies in animals, a significant hurdle to commercializing antisense and siRNA therapeutic drug products will have been overcome."
"We are very pleased to begin work on Bio-Path's leading drug candidate," stated Co-President and Co-CEO of Althea, Dr. Magda Marquet. "The Grb-2 therapeutic program is exciting in that it could potentially benefit patients with leukemia and provide a way forward for the delivery of nucleic acid therapeutics. It has always been important for Althea to provide services which allow for the rapid development of innovative therapies, so we are pleased that we have been selected to provide the manufacturing support to Bio-Path Holdings as they focus on this significant program."
About Bio-Path Holdings, Inc.
Bio-Path is developing leading edge, patented, liposomal drug delivery systems with two clinical cancer drug candidates ready for the clinic and a third siRNA cancer drug undergoing final pre-clinical development. Bio-Path's drug delivery technology distributes nucleic acid drugs systemically, throughout the human body, via simple intravenous infusion. The delivery technology can be applied both to double stranded (siRNA) and single stranded (antisense) nucleic acid compounds with the potential to revolutionize the treatment of cancer and other diseases where drugable targets of disease are well characterized. For more information, please contact: www.biopathholdings.com.
About Althea Technologies, Inc.
Althea Technologies, a leading San Diego-based pharmaceutical services firm, provides critical manufacturing and development services that support researchers worldwide in their advancement of novel therapies and efforts to apply new genomic information. Althea's services include cGMP contract manufacturing of recombinant proteins, DNA-based therapeutics and vaccines, aseptic filling, and gene quantification using real-time PCR and gene expression analysis under GLP conditions. Additionally, Althea has introduced new services and technologies for the identification and development of genetic biomarkers with innovative programs such as the company's proprietary Express Pathway. For more information, visit www.altheatech.com.
About M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston ranks as one of the world's most respected centers focused on cancer patient care, research, education and prevention. M. D. Anderson is one of only 39 Comprehensive Cancer Centers designated by the National Cancer Institute. For five of the past seven years, M. D. Anderson has ranked No. 1 in cancer care in "America's Best Hospitals," a survey published annually in U.S. News and World Report.
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