Lpath says it can neutralize monoclonal antibodies against cancer target LPA

By Elaine Rigoli

Tampa, Fla., July 17 - Lpath, Inc. said Monday that it now can generate functional antibodies against lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), a key bioactive lipid and a potent cancer promoter.

Using its proprietary ImmuneY2 technology, Lpath said it has also demonstrated, using standard assays, that these antibodies mitigate LPA' s tumorigenic effects on cancer cells.

"For many years, the scientific community has recognized the significant therapeutic and diagnostic potential of an anti-LPA antibody. However, many companies failed in their efforts to create an antibody against LPA, despite considerable effort. Lpath's success with LPA validates the ability of its technology and its research team to produce antibodies for these therapeutically important, yet highly challenging, targets," vice president of development William Garland said in a news release.

Lpath used this same ImmuneY2 technology to produce antibodies against sphingosine-1-phosphate, another validated cancer target. The best performing of these antibodies, called Sphingoma, is now Lpath's lead drug candidate and has shown preclinical efficacy against six different mouse models of human cancer.

Due to their exquisite specificity and pharmacology, antibodies have a strong record of success as drugs, especially in the oncology arena, as demonstrated by Erbitux, Avastin and Herceptin, among others.

San Diego-based Lpath is a theranostics company focused on bioactive signaling lipids as targets for treating and diagnosing important human diseases, including cancer, heart failure and age-related macular degeneration.

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