e-Therapeutics Begins Phase I Study of Oral Formulation of Anti-Cancer Compound ETS2101 with Healthy Volunteers

E-Therapeutics plc (AIM:ETX) announced today that it has dosed the first healthy volunteer in a newly initiated Phase I clinical trial with an oral formulation of its anti-cancer compound, ETS2101.

The Phase I study will employ escalating doses of ETS2101 given orally in healthy subjects to evaluate the pharmacokinetics (PK) and oral bioavailability of ETS2101 in this form. The trial, which is conducted in the UK, is expected to recruit 24 healthy volunteers and is anticipated to complete in Q4 2014.

Stephen Self, e-Therapeutics’ Development Director, said: "We are pleased to be broadening our investigations of ETS2101 by starting a Phase I trial with an oral formulation. This may be an additional delivery route for patients. We will be able to cross-refer results with this oral formulation to the safety, dosing and activity data on ETS2101 from the two existing Phase I studies with the intravenous (I.V.) formulation of ETS2101.”

An I.V. formulation of ETS2101 is in two Phase I studies, an investigator-led study in brain cancer at the Moores Cancer Center of the University of California San Diego and a study at three UK Centers that is focused on patients with a variety of solid tumours.

About ETS2101

ETS2101 (dexanabinol) is a synthetic cannabinoid identified by e-Therapeutics’ network pharmacology as a drug with potential in cancer treatment. Preclinical studies provided evidence of activity in a wide variety of cancer cell lines. Two phase I studies of ETS2101 are ongoing, one in patients with primary or secondary brain cancers and one in patients with various advanced solid tumours.

About e-Therapeutics

e-Therapeutics is an AIM-listed biotechnology company with a proprietary platform in network pharmacology, an innovative new approach to drug discovery based on advances in network science and chemical biology. The Company’s discovery and development activity is focused in cancer and disorders of the nervous system. e-Therapeutics is based at sites in Oxford and Newcastle, UK. For more information about the Company please visit www.etherapeutics.co.uk.