Posted: September 30, 2009, 3 a.m. EDT
MBF Therapeutics Inc. and Lankenau Institute for Medical Research recently partnered to develop a drug treatment for common and aggressive
cancers in dogs and cats.
As such, MBFT will have exclusive access to preclinical data from research being conducted by Thomas O’Brien, Ph.D., professor at LIMR and Thomas Jefferson University’s Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Biology. Dr. O’Brien is also a member of MBFT’s Clinical Advisory Board.
The drug, called MBFT-101, is described as a combination of two drug molecules that act in concert to kill cancer cells by starving them of nutrients essential for cell growth and survival, with no effect on normal cells. The companies reported that the therapy is intended to be administered orally, at home, for four to six weeks.
A pilot clinical study using MBFT-101 is already under way at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine’s Veterinary Clinical Investigation Center. The study, made possible through a grant from Ben Franklin Partners Technology Concept Network to MBFT and O’Brien, is evaluating the drug in cats with oral squamous cell carcinoma.
MBFT will initiate a pilot clinical study using dogs later this year.
The hope is to not only advance the development of new therapies for pets, but to set the stage for future studies in humans, said George Prendergast, president and chief executive officer of LIMR.
MBFT is a development stage veterinary oncology company in Ambler, Penn.
LIMR is an independent, nonprofit biomedical research center located in suburban Philadelphia on the campus of the Lankenau Hospital.