WASHINGTON D.C April 6th 2013 - Preclinical Oncology Services Limited (PRECOS), a leading pre-clinical research and development service provider with a specific focus on oncology, today launches PRECOS Unique Models of Acquired resistance (PUMA) at the AACR annual meeting (Washington DC, April 6th – 10th). Derived from cell lines and proprietary PDX (Patient-Derived Xenograft) models, PUMA models provide a unique bespoke collection of clinically relevant and validated models of resistance, as well as the techniques and expertise to develop client specific models of acquired resistance to chemotherapeutics and targeted agents. Such models are a major advancement for pharmaceutical and biotech companies running oncology R&D programmes and will enhance success rates during the critical phase of transitioning from pre-clinical to clinical evaluation of new drug candidates.
The first available examples of PUMA models are
in specific lung cancer subsets where PRECOS has previously developed and
characterized a focused panel of PDX lung cancer models derived directly from
Caucasian patient tumour material – PRECOS’ unique model atlas LION (Lung In ONcology). By repeatedly challenging
relatively homogeneous cell line populations (CTX models) and heterogeneous
tumours from PDX models across several passages, PRECOS is able to compare and
contrast behaviour such as growth characteristics with gene expression and
pathway analysis, response to chemotherapeutics and targeted agents. It is also
possible to assess the effect of varying treatment regimens and dosing
strategies including drug holidays or combination therapies. This allows panels
of tumour subset specific models to be built which are able to mimic patients
and their responses to treatment regimes in the clinic.
PRECOS is committed to further developing
PUMA and is continuing to progress the techniques to provide customised
services. This will enable its clients to build models based on the
characteristics of diverse cancer cell types which can offer insights for
designing optimal treatment strategies around their pre-clinical candidates
prior to product development and clinical trials.
“As oncology R&D progresses, there is an
increasingly critical need for more clinically-relevant predictive pre-clinical
models in order to overcome the high attrition rates of agents entering
clinical trials,” said Dr Martin Page, Scientific Consultant, PRECOS. “All new
agents entering phase 1 clinical trials will be tested in cancer patients that
have likely become resistant to a range of targeted and chemotherapeutic
agents. PUMA is part of our PREdict
platform, and offers PRECOS’ clients pre-clinical models that are authentic
counterparts of the drug-resistant tumour subsets seen in the clinic, rather
than drug-naive models. PRECOS’ latest portfolio offers specialist drug
resistant pre-clinical models with responses of higher predictability with
outcomes that can be seen during clinical testing.”
Scientific consultants will be on hand at AACR to discuss strategic needs, whether you want to access our unique collection of clinically relevant lung oncology models, discuss specific project needs or the relevance of specific models with our experts, or develop a bespoke collection of validated assays or models, please call +44 0870 166 6234 or e-mail enquiries@precos.co.uk to book an appointment at AACR. Alternatively please visit ww.precos.co.uk for further information.
For further information please call +44 (0)870 166 6234, email enquiries@precs.co.uk or visit www.precos.co.uk
