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MISSISSAUGA, ON, Nov. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - YM BioSciences Inc. (NYSE Amex: YMI; TSX: YM), a life sciences product development company that identifies and advances a diverse portfolio of promising cancer-related products at various stages of development, announced that results from a study evaluating nimotuzumab were presented today in a poster at the 2009 AACR-NCI-EORTC Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics conference in Boston, Massachusetts. The reported results demonstrate that nimotuzumab in combination with metronomic chemotherapy in an advanced triple-negative breast cancer preclinical model is safe and effective.
In this study nimotuzumab, an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) targeting antibody, was administered twice weekly in combination with metronomic (continuous low-dose) cyclophosphamide. This regimen resulted in significant primary tumor growth delay in an aggressive, metastatic, higher EGFR-expressing variant of the MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer breast model, which over-expresses EGFR. In addition, the combination resulted in a significant survival advantage over cyclophosphamide alone.
"The data demonstrate that nimotuzumab in combination with metronomic cyclophosphamide is safe and effective in this aggressive tumor type which has limited therapeutic options. Furthermore, the addition of nimotuzumab would be expected to be minimally toxic to patients and as such, this combination should be considered for this patient population in future clinical trials," said lead author Dr.Anthony J. Mutsaers of the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biology Research, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto.
The research poster is entitled "Combination treatment with metronomic cyclophosphamide and the EGFR monoclonal antibody nimotuzumab is efficacious and non-toxic in a preclinical model of advanced triple negative breast cancer". It is being presented today (Poster Session C, Abstract C49) by the author