Melbourne, Australia; Starpharma Holdings Ltd (ASX: SPL, OTCQX: SPHRY) today announced the signing of an extension to the existing collaboration agreement with AstraZeneca to commence scale up of a dendrimer enhanced oncology molecule (“DEP™ conjugate”) for further development.

During 2014 Starpharma and AstraZeneca conducted a series of studies in which Starpharma’s DEP™ drug delivery technology was used to modify a development candidate from AstraZeneca’s cancer pipeline. This program has been successful with key enhancements for the DEP™ conjugate now having been demonstrated by AstraZeneca in animal models. Based on these results AstraZeneca is now conducting further pre-clinical studies with a view to subsequent commencement of clinical trials, if results of the current work continue to be positive.

“We are delighted that the DEP™ conjugate has performed so well in extensive testing by AstraZeneca over the last year or so” said Dr Jackie Fairley, Chief Executive Officer of Starpharma. “The collaboration has been a very productive one and AstraZeneca has been a tremendous partner. We look forward to working closely with them through the next stage of the program as the DEP™ conjugate is advanced for further development and clinical studies.”   

Andrew Potts, Project Director from AstraZeneca's Pharmaceutical Development organisation commented: "Combining the great science that's happening in our labs with the most innovative biotech science is an essential part of our plans to deliver the next generation of medicines.  This collaboration will enable us to further harness the DEP™ technology supporting our plans to accelerate evaluation of a novel molecule within our oncology portfolio.’’

Starpharma uses its DEP™ technology to improve the performance of pharmaceuticals.  Both pre-clinical and early clinical data have shown DEP™ versions of drugs to be superior in a variety of ways to the unmodified drugs. Pre-clinical studies of DEP™ conjugates have already established improved efficacy and reduced toxicities with a number of different cancer drugs. In early results from Starpharma’s phase 1 study, DEP™ docetaxel has shown very good tolerability and improved pharmacokinetics. This trial is ongoing and whilst the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) has not yet been reached a number of patients have exhibited potential anti-cancer activity and no neutropenia has been seen to date. 

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