RICHMOND HILL, Ontario, Feb. 27, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Helix BioPharma Corp. (TSX: HBP), (FSE: HBP) (“Helix” or the “Company”), an immuno-oncology company developing innovative drug candidates for the prevention and treatment of cancer, is pleased to announce that together with the Moffitt Cancer Center (“Moffitt”), a poster entitled “Improving survival in pancreatic cancer using Doxorubicin in combination with L-DOS47” will be presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (“AACR”) Annual Meeting 2019 which is taking place on March 29 – April 3, 2019 at the Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
The presentation will describe the use of a preclinical pancreatic mouse model to study the effects of L-DOS47 alone or in combination therapies. This model was generated by modifying a mouse pancreatic cancer cell line (Panc02) to express the human ceacam6 antigen that is recognized by L-DOS47. The model is designed to be used for monotherapy L-DOS47 efficacy studies and for combination studies with various agents, including immunotherapies. In addition, to therapeutic studies, the model may also be helpful in studying the effects of L-DOS47 in modifying tumor pH and the tumor immune environment. The presentation will describe the development of the cell line, generation of tumor grafts, and show responses to L-DOS47 in combination with doxorubicin treatments. The usefulness of the model, including difficulties of this model, will also be described. This work is part of an on-going collaboration with Moffitt and is being performed to support the clinical development of L-DOS47 and the DOS47 platform.
“I would like to thank Dr. Robert (Bob) Gillies and the Moffitt team on leading this work,” said Heman Chao, Helix’s Chief Executive Officer. “Following on the excellent safety and tolerability results from the Phase I monotherapy lung cancer study in Poland and continuing good progress made with the U.S. Phase I LDOS47 combination study with pemetrexed and carboplatin, we are very excited to launch the pancreatic program and expand the clinical application of L-DOS47.”
Presentation details are as follows:
Session Category: Experimental and Molecular Therapeutics
Session Title: Cellular Responses to Anticancer Agents 1: The Microenvironment and Metastasis
Session Date and Time: Monday April 1, 2019 from 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location: Georgia World Congress Center, Exhibit Hall B.
About Helix BioPharma Corp.
Helix BioPharma Corp. is an immuno-oncology company specializing in the field of cancer therapy. The company is actively developing innovative products for the prevention and treatment of cancer based on its proprietary technologies. Helix’s product development initiatives include its novel L-DOS47 new drug candidate and Chimeric Antigen Receptor (“CAR”) based cell therapies. Helix is currently listed on the TSX and FSE under the symbol “HBP”.
About L-DOS47
L-DOS47 is Helix's first immunoconjugate based drug candidate in development based on the Company’s novel DOS47 platform technology, which is designed to use an innovative approach to modify the microenvironmental conditions of cancer cells in a manner that leads to their destruction.
Investor Relations
Helix BioPharma Corp.
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Email: ir@helixbiopharma.com
Cautionary Statements
This news release may contain forward-looking statements and information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements are statements and information that are not historical facts but instead include financial projections and estimates; statements regarding plans, goals, objectives, intentions and expectations with respect to Helix’s future business, operations, research and development, including Helix’s activities relating to its drug development program, the anticipated timelines for the commencement or completion of certain activities, including enrolment of patients, the expansion of the DOS47 platform into other compounds and indications and other information in future periods. Forward-looking statements, which may be identified by words including, without limitation, “may”, “improve”, “planned”, “possible”, “postulated”, “enhances”, “potential”, “development”, “unique”, “expects”, “plans”, “will”, “intends”, “pending”, “objective”, “exploring”, “projected”, and other similar expressions, are intended to provide information about management’s current plans and expectations regarding future operations.
Although Helix believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated and no assurance can be given that these expectations will be realized, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. Risk factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements include, without limitation: (i) Helix’s ability to operate as a going concern being dependent mainly on securing sufficient additional financing in order to fund its ongoing research and development and other operating activities; (ii) the generally inherent uncertainty involved in scientific research and drug development and those specific to Helix’s pre-clinical and clinical development programs (DOS47, L-DOS47, V-DOS47 and CAR-T); (iii) difficulties in predicting accurate timelines for the commencement or completion of certain activities including those in support of ongoing clinical trials; (iv) positive preliminary results from early-stage clinical trials may not be indicative of the final results from the trial or be indicative of favorable outcomes in later-stage clinical trials; (v) delays or inability to complete clinical trials successfully and the long lead-times and high costs associated with obtaining regulatory approval to market any product which may result from successful completion of such trials; (vi) clinical data may not demonstrate adequate efficacy and safety to result in regulatory approval to market any of Helix’s product candidates in any jurisdiction; (vii) economic and market conditions may become worse and market shifts may require a change in strategic focus; and (viii) those risks and uncertainties affecting Helix as more fully described in Helix’s most recent Annual Information Form, including under the headings “Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors”, filed under Helix’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com (together, the “Helix Risk Factors”). Certain material factors and assumptions are applied in making the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, that sufficient financing will be obtained in a timely manner to allow Helix to continue operations and implement its clinical trials in the manner and on the timelines anticipated and that the Helix Risk Factors will not cause Helix’s actual results or events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. These cautionary statements qualify all such forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements and information are based on the beliefs, assumptions, opinions, plans and expectations of Helix’s management on the date of this news release, and the Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statement or information should those beliefs, assumptions, opinions, plans or expectations, or other circumstances change, except as required by law.