hot off the press...sp target 4.1 - 6.8c

Cellmid partner in large scale manufacture of drug-like MK for clinical use;

Cellmid (ASX: CDY) has reached a key milestone with serum-stable, drug-like midkine (MK) manufacture achieved at large scale for clinical use by one of its commercial partners.

This sets the stage for commercial production of anti-MK antibodies once clinical studies are proven.

The manufacturing milestone is one of the key finding that was presented at the company’s third Midkine Symposium held in Kyoto, Japan.

Other key findings included pre-clinical efficacy studies conducted by Dr Guillermo Velasco from the Complutense University in Madrid showing that its anti-MK antibodies could overcome drug-resistance in the deadly brain cancer glioma.

Animal studies by Dr Astrid Liedert at the University of Ulm, Germany, have also shown its anti-MK antibodies enhancing bone fracture healing in vivo.

The symposium, which was co-hosted by MK discoverers Emeritus Professor Takashi Muramatsu and Professor Kenji Kadomatsu built on the success of the first two MK conferences held in Sydney (2010) and Istanbul (2012).

It attracted scientists from eleven countries while some of the company’s commercial collaboration partners also attended for the first time.

Symposium Findings

Other key findings made at the symposium included:

- New insights were presented into MK’s molecular structure and its functional implications by Professors Christoph Winkler (National University of Singapore) and Licheng Dai (Huzhou Hospital, Zhejiang Provence, China);
- Further understanding of the receptors and signalling pathways engaged by MK in cancer and other diseases have been illustrated in in vitro and in vivo studies by several scientists;
- Information on how MK controls the expression of key genes in the hair follicle that keep the follicle alive and active has been presented by Advangen scientists Drs Yamamoto and Namekata providing mechanism of action data on how MK promotes hair growth; and
- Precise mechanism of action by which MK promotes inflammatory cell infiltration into tissues was presented by Dr Ludwig Wechback (Ludwig-Maximillians University, Munich, Germany), giving clear insights into how anti-MK treatments might disrupt this process.

Analysis

The findings, particularly the large scale manufacture of serum-stable, drug-like midkine, highlight the progress that Cellmid and its partners have made on its MK antibody drug development are significant for Cellmid.

This is especially important given that this antibodies are expected to become clinic-ready by the end of 2014.

We have estimated a share price target of $0.041 to $0.068 for Cellmid by this time-frame based on its rising cash flows and progress towards clinical trials.



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