MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM –(Marketwire-April 14 2009) – Epistem plc (LSE: EHP), the UK biotechnology and contract research company, will present results from its recently completed preclinical plucked hair biomarker study at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 100th Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado on Sunday 19th April 2009 at 1pm (abstract number 1753). This study was completed successfully on Erlotinib, commonly known as Tarceva®, a small molecule designed to target the Epithelial Growth Factor Receptor 1 (HER1/EGFR) pathway and a treatment for small cell lung and prostate cancer.
Data will be presented by Dr. Ged Brady to demonstrate that drug-induced changes in gene expression are observed in plucked hairs following Erlotinib treatment, as early as 6 hours after the first administration. Using DNA array analysis of plucked hairs the Biomarker Division at Epistem have identified a “core gene set” which are changed in response to treatment. These gene changes are biomarkers which provide expression based analysis of pharmacodynamic (PD) change in response to Erlotinib.
This biomarker expression data can assist the drug development process by providing a quantitative measure of drug exposure, and drug effects downstream of the target. There is potential to also study the differential effect of new compounds in development versus Erlotinib in the clinical setting.
“Epistem’s proprietary plucked hair biomarker platform provides a simple and effective means of measuring biological response in epithelial tissue. These results provide further support to the clinical relevance of hair as surrogate tissue that is readily accessible in early clinical studies,” said Lydia Meyer-Turkson, Director of the Biomarker Division at Epistem. “We are pleased that the data demonstrate the relevance of plucked hair as a PD biomarker for compounds in development that are designed to inhibit tyrosine kinase activity” she added.
The abstract will be available on request following the presentation at AACR. For further information on the Company please visit www.epistem.co.uk or contact:
Dr. Danielle Hargreaves +44 (0)161 606 7258
Public Relations +44 (0) 7920 815603
Epistem plc. [email protected]
Mike Wort / Anna Dunphy +44 (0) 207 861 3838
Financial PR/IR
De Facto Communications
