MONTREAL, QC--(Marketwired - Apr 7, 2014) - Sunshine Biopharma Inc. (OTCQB: SBFM), a pharmaceutical company focused on the research, development and commercialization of drugs for the treatment of various forms of cancer today announced that it has resolved the two isomeric forms of its lead anticancer compound, Adva-27a, and as a result the specific activity of the drug candidate has increased 9.5-fold. Sunshine Biopharma had previously announced that the concentration at which Adva-27a inhibited 50% of the activity of Topoisomerase II (IC50) was 13.7 micromolar (see press release issued on October 5, 2011). As a result of today's development Adva-27a's IC50 has dropped 9.5-fold, to 1.44 micromolar. This implies that significantly lower quantities of the drug can be used to achieve the same effect.
"Isomeric forms of a compound refer to the fact that the compound has different arrangements of its atoms in space," said Dr. Steve N. Slilaty, Chief Executive Officer of Sunshine Biopharma. "Isomeric forms do not have identical properties. In the case of Adva-27a, the molecule exists in the alpha or beta form. This is a lot like a person's left hand and right hand. While the two hands look identical, they actually are not. They are mirror images of each other but are not superimposable. The fact that they are not superimposable means that they are not identical. Similarly, the alpha and beta forms of Adva-27a are not superimposable. The implications of all of this for our future breast cancer and pancreatic cancer patients are lower therapeutic dosages, which theoretically should result in reduced side-effects."
About Adva-27a
Adva-27a is Sunshine Biopharma's lead anticancer compound, a small molecule that has recently been shown to be effective at killing multidrug resistant breast cancer cells, small-cell lung cancer cells, uterine sarcoma cells and pancreatic cancer cells (Published in ANTICANCER RESEARCH, Volume 32, Pages 4423-4432, October 2012). Adva-27a is currently in the IND-Enabling stage of development. The original U.S. patent covering Adva-27a was issued on August 7, 2012 under U.S. patent number 8,236,935. The Company is planning a Phase I clinical trial of Adva-27a for pancreatic cancer in parallel to the Phase I clinical trial of Adva-27a for multidrug resistant breast cancer to be conducted at McGill University's Jewish General Hospital in Montreal (Canada).
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