08-01-2010 00:14 Cyclacel says drug found effective against lung cancer, shrs up
Name Letzter Veränderung
CYCLACEL PHARMACEUTICALS ORD 2.70 1.64 (60.74
Jan 7 (Reuters) - Biopharmaceutical company Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals said two peer-reviewed journal articles found its drug candidate, seliciclib, effective against lung cancer.
Shares of Cyclacel were up 19 percent at $3.17 in aftermarket trade. They closed up 152 percent at $2.67 Thursday on Nasdaq.
One of the articles said seliciclib was found to be effective in killing lung cancer cells through a novel apoptotic mechanism or induction of cancer cell suicide.
Nearly all lung cancer cell lines against which the drug was most effective had Ras-activating mutations.
Ras is a family of mutations which make lung cancer cells highly resistant to approved drugs, the company said.
'If seliciclib is found to be effective in patients with Ras-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) it could address an area of high unmet medical need,' Cyclacel's Chief Scientist David Glover said in the statement.
The drug seliciclib is currently in mid-stage trials for the treatment of NSCLC.
(Reporting by Anuradha Ramanathan in Bangalore; Editing by Aradhana Aravindan) Keywords: CYCLACEL/ (anuradha.ramanathan@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780; outside U.S. +91 80 4135 5800: Reuters Messaging: anuradha.ramanathan.reuters.com@reuters.net)
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