TAIPEI — Anbogen Therapeutics Inc. announced a collaborative research agreement with the University of Tokyo to evaluate its investigational cancer therapy ABT-301, or imofinostat, across multiple solid tumor types.
The collaboration involves the Laboratory of Veterinary Surgery at the university’s Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences and will use established veterinary oncology models to study ABT-301 in osteosarcoma, melanoma, soft tissue sarcoma, bladder cancer and other difficult-to-treat solid tumors.
The research will be led by Daiki Kato, Takayuki Nakagawa and Manabu Mochizuki, Director of the Affiliated Veterinary Medical Center at the University of Tokyo.
Anbogen said the collaboration is intended to generate translational evidence that could support expansion of ABT-301 into additional human cancer indications and help identify potential combination treatment strategies.
Naturally occurring cancers in dogs can share biological and clinical characteristics with corresponding human cancers, making them useful in comparative oncology research. The partners plan to evaluate ABT-301 as both a monotherapy and in combination with other agents while studying its mechanism of action and potential biomarkers of response.
“Comparative oncology is far more than animal research. It is a powerful platform for generating cross-species translational evidence that can bridge preclinical findings and human clinical development,” said John Hsu, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO of Anbogen Therapeutics.
Hsu said the collaboration could help the company assess ABT-301 across a broader range of solid tumors and inform future clinical trial design and indication expansion beyond its current colorectal cancer program.
ABT-301 is a selective Class I histone deacetylase inhibitor designed to alter the tumor immune microenvironment and potentially make tumors more responsive to immune checkpoint inhibitors.
The drug is currently being evaluated in a Phase I/II clinical trial in combination with anti-PD-1 and anti-VEGF therapies in patients with pMMR/non-MSI-High metastatic colorectal cancer.
“Naturally occurring cancers in dogs and cats develop spontaneously under environmental and lifestyle conditions shared with humans and evolve through immune editing to acquire complex tumor immune microenvironments,” Kato said. “We believe this collaborative research will generate robust translational evidence to support the clinical development of ABT-301.”
Anbogen said findings from the collaboration could guide future indication selection, combination regimens and clinical development strategies for ABT-301.
