Aikido Pharma Has Licensed DHA-dFdC at The University of Texas at Austin

Aikido Pharma Inc, a biotechnology development company working to develop a diverse portfolio of early and mid-stage small-molecule anti-cancer therapeutics. Aikido Pharma has developed in partnerships with the University of Texas at Austin, DHA-dFdC for the treatment of Pancreatic Cancer.

Background Information on Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic cancer is the 3rd leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States surpassing breast cancer. It is expected to become the 2nd leading cause of cancer-related death in the US by the year 2020, surpassing colorectal cancer.*

Pancreatic cancer has the highest mortality rate of all major cancers. 91% of pancreatic cancer patients will die within five years of diagnosis – only 8% will survive more than five years. 74% of patients die within the first year of diagnosis.*

Pancreatic cancer is one of the few cancers for which survival has not improved substantially over nearly 40 years.*

Treatment options for pancreatic cancer: Surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy are treatment options that extend survival or relieve symptoms, but seldom produce a cure. Surgical removal of the tumor is possible in less than 20% of patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer because detection is often in late stages and has spread beyond the pancreas.*

The current state of the art chemotherapy treatment is gemcitabine, Folfirinox cocktail, or gemcitabine in combination with Abraxane.

* Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research

The University of Texas at Austin has identified a new drug “DHA-dFdC” that has shown positive results in preclinical studies, inhibiting pancreatic tumor growth in clinically relevant transgenic mouse models.

DHA-dFdc is a new compound that holds promising indications of becoming the next generation of chemotherapy treatment for advanced pancreatic cancer
- Inhibits pancreatic cancer cell growth (up to 100,000-fold more potent that gemcitabine, a current standard therapy)
- Has documented efficacy against pancreatic tumors in a clinically relevant transgenic mouse model
- Overcomes tumor cell resistance to current chemotherapeutic drugs
- Is well tolerated in preclinical toxicity test
- Has demonstrated activities against other cancers (e.g. leukemia, lung, melanoma)
- May stimulate immunogenic cell death to activate host anti-tumor immunity