 Small Molecule Technology: Researchers have recently identified one way that cancer cells can defeat the immune system. Cancer cells can express a protein called IDO which makes the immune cells of the body ignore the cancer cells. When the immune cells do not, or cannot, recognize cancer cells they can spread in the body and cause the failure of many organs which may ultimately result in death. Researchers have reported that certain drugs can block the action of IDO and in some cases reverse the inhibition of the immune cells. When the immune cells are restored to normal function they help to reject tumors. The drugs that block IDO seem to work even better when combined with standard types of chemotherapy and increase the effects of the typical chemotherapy drugs. This means that combinations of IDO blockers and chemotherapy can work better together than either type of treatment alone.
Clinical Status: The Small Molecule Therapeutics division was initiated when NewLink Genetics licensed compounds that specifically inhibit the IDO protein. The Small Molecule Therapeutics division has recently submitted its first IND to the FDA for the treatment of patients with cancer who have no other therapies available. The drug development of the lead compound NLG001 was exclusively licensed to NewLink Genetics by the Medical College of Georgia. Additional intellectual property on IDO technology was obtained when NewLink Genetics acquired OncoRx Corporation in 2005. The pre-clinical toxicology has been conducted in cooperation with the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program at the National Cancer Institute. We expect patient enrollment to begin in late 2007.
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