Theralase commences small animal pre-clinical trials for destruction of cancer cells

November 13, 2010 — Theralase Technologies Inc. (TSX-V: TLT) has commenced the pre-clinical trial phase of its cancer research project; evaluating its patented Photo Dynamic Compounds (PDCs) in a small animal in-vivo model.

Lothar Lilge, PhD, the principal investigator of the PDCs and a researcher at the world renowned Ontario Cancer Institute located at Princess Margaret Hospital, University Health Network (UHN) will evaluate the toxicity of the patented PDCs on small animals, by choosing an escalating dose analysis.

Once completed, Lilge plans to demonstrate efficacy of the PDCs in the destruction of tumours in a small animal model.

Theralase first announced commencing small animal trials in June 2010. Testing can now proceed following receipt of approvals on its Animal Utilization Protocol by the UHN Ethics Review Committee.

“These small animal pre-clinical trials represent the next strategic step forward in our cancer therapy research program”, says Theralase President and CEO, Roger Dumoulin-White. “Now that approval has been granted, hands-on evaluation of the PDCs in a small animal model is able to commence full steam ahead. Successful completion of this milestone, will lay the groundwork for exploring the use of these PDCs in the destruction of cancers in larger animals, including: horses, cats, dogs and eventually humans.”

Lilge stated that, “Determination of the maximum tolerated dose is critical to providing us with safe PDC dosage levels that we can use to set recommended dosing guidelines to evaluate the efficacy of the PDCs in eradicating tumours in small animals while sparing normal tissue. Successfully destroying cancer in at least 2 animal models coupled with the completion of an OECD guideline toxicology analysis of the PDCs will be mandatory in setting the stage for future Phase 1 human clinical trials. We are currently investigating toxicity of four lead compounds in the safe and effective destruction of cancer cells in vivo. Due to the ability of these PDCs to work in low oxygen environments, these PDCs will be ideally suited in the destruction of solid core tumours, such as cancers of the breast, prostate, brain and lung.”

Source: Theralase, www.theralase.com