The European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products (COMP) has recommended that BP1001 receive orphan designation as a treatment for acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
BP1001 (liposomal Grb2 antisense) is a neutral-charge, liposome-incorporated, antisense drug designed to inhibit protein synthesis of growth factor receptor bound protein 2 (Grb2).
BP1001 is being developed by Bio-Path Holdings, Inc.
According to Bio-Path, inhibition of Grb2 by BP1001 represents a significant advance in treating cancers with activated tyrosine kinases using a target not druggable with small molecule inhibitors.
Research has suggested that Grb2 plays an essential role in cancer cell activation via the RAS pathway. Grb2 bridges signals between activated and mutated tyrosine kinases, such as Flt3, c-Kit, and Bcr-Abl, and the Ras pathway, leading to activation of the ERK and AKT proteins.
About orphan designation
The EMA’s COMP adopts an opinion on the granting of orphan drug designation, and that opinion is submitted to the European Commission for a final decision. The European Commission typically makes a decision within 30 days.
Orphan designation provides regulatory and financial incentives for companies to develop and market therapies that treat life-threatening or chronically debilitating conditions affecting no more than 5 in 10,000 people in the European Union, and where no satisfactory treatment is available.
Orphan designation provides a 10-year period of marketing exclusivity if the drug receives regulatory approval. The designation also provides incentives for companies seeking protocol assistance from the EMA during the product development phase and direct access to the centralized authorization procedure.
Trials of BP1001
Bio-Path has completed a phase 1 trial of BP1001 in patients with relapsed/refractory AML, chronic myeloid leukemia, and myelodysplastic syndromes.
The company has also completed the safety segment of a phase 2 trial in which BP1001 is being investigated in combination with low-dose ara-C to treat AML.
Bio-Path recently released data from these studies.
The phase 1 study included patients who had received an average of 6 prior therapies.
The patients received 8 doses of BP1001 over 4 weeks, escalating to a maximum dose of 90 mg/m2. There were no dose-limiting toxicities, and Bio-Path said the drug was well tolerated.
Of the 18 evaluable patients with circulating blasts, 83% responded to BP1001. The average reduction in circulating blasts was 67%.
The phase 2 trial included patients with relapsed/refractory AML. There were 3 evaluable patients in each of 2 dosing cohorts—60 mg/m2 and 90 mg/m2. Patients received BP1001 twice a week for 4 weeks.
Five of the patients responded—3 with a complete response and 2 with a partial response. There were no adverse events attributed to BP1001, and the maximum-tolerated dose was not reached.
