XenTech to Showcase PDX-based Testing Tools at World ADC Frankfurt

news-releasesXenTech
February 12th 2014

Evry, France: Preclinical contract research organisation XenTech will showcase its strengths in testing antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) as well as exciting new tools at Europe’s leading ADC summit later this month.

XenTech’s founder and Chief Scientific Officer Jean-Gabriel Judde and its Head of Business Development Sabrina Serpillon will attending the World ADC Frankfurt event to demonstrate how the company’s unrivalled collection of patient-derived xenograft (PDX) tumor models provide outstanding preclinical tools to evaluate the efficacy of new ADCs on human tumors.

ADCs are antibodies that covalently attach to a cytotoxic molecule via a linker. Once an ADC binds to the antigen on a tumor cell, it is internalized into the tumor cell and the cytotoxic molecule is released to kill the cell.

ADCs are an emerging class of biotherapeutics that have demonstrated significant impact on clinical practice, highlighting the potential of this new class of targeted therapies.Recent approval of T-DM1 (trastuzumab-emtansine) mAbfor HER2-positive breast cancer has demonstrated the potential for ADC-based oncological therapies.

Clinical Challenge
“Over the last few years, XenTech has amassed significant experience in testing ADCs that can help clients to optimize their strategies for moving their ADCs forward to the clinical stage. This remains the outstanding challenge in the field, as the 2014 summit will acknowledge,” said Dr. Judde.

“Unlike ordinary tumor cell lines, Xentech’s PDX cancer models faithfully replicate actual patients’ tumors to maintain the molecular, genetic and intratumoral clonal heterogeneity of parent tumors,” he explained.

Dr. Judde said this was undoubtedly the main reason why large pharmaceutical companies increasingly preferred PDX-based testing to validate antitumor efficacy of their compounds at the preclinical stage.

“To select the right models, PDXs can be sorted by the tumor response to SoCs or by the expression level of the targeted surface antigen. For instance, thanks to its unique breast cancer PDX collection, XenTech can provide an outstanding tool to test the efficacy of T-DM1 analogs,” he added.

About XenTech
XenTech is an innovative CRO company specializing in the preclinical evaluation of cancer drug efficacy and the identification of biomarkers and therapeutic targets. It offers a unique collection of patient-derived tumor xenografts (PDX). PDX closely match biological features of patient tumors for each aspect of phenotypic characteristics including histology, gene expression, genomics and drug response.

XenTech has assembled one of the world’s most impressive collections of PDX models that are extensively characterized and associated to molecular data, including gene expression, copy number data, and manually curated mutations. Its preclinical platform is of considerable value for translational research in oncology, notably for pharmacology and identification of drug response markers for personalized medicine. XenTech participates in the development of novel cancer therapies by offering its PDX-based services, tumor models and expertise in preclinical oncology to stakeholders in oncology research. XenTech also develops oncology biomarker programs to correlate drug response with molecular features of tumors.

XenTech is known worldwide for its renowned oncology translational platform, its unique panel of patient-derived breast cancer xenografts and it’s extremely experienced scientific team.

About World ADC Frankfurt 2014
The World ADC Summit series of conferences have become the definitive gatherings for ADC experts in Europe. The 2014 summit will take place on February 18-19 at the Maritim Kurhaushotel in the spa town of Bad Homburg, close to Frankfurt.

More than 125 leading scientists and decision makers from pharma, biotech and academia are booked to attend the event, which is organised by Hanson Wade.

With close to 50 speakers, World ADC Frankfurt 2014 will focus on the challenges of getting into Phase 1 trials, specifically examining:

• Progress in candidate selection and progression
• Improved preclinical predictability and translation through new models, assays and mechanistic studies
• Maximizing potential clinical benefit through both greater efficacy and better tolerability

The summit also includes an exhibition and Speed Networking session.

Contact:
XenTech
Sabrina Serpillon, Head of Business Development
Tel: +33 1 60 87 89 80
Email: [email protected]

For more information about XenTech to showcase PDX-based testing tools at World ADC, please contact XenTech directly.