Announcement of Phase I clinical trial of novel anti-cancer agent JPH203

February17, 2015
J-Pharma Co., Ltd.

J-Pharma started a Phase I clinical trial for JPH203 with solid cancer patients at Kyorin University Hospital (Professor J. Furuse).

JPH203 will be administered intravenously to patients with standard therapy that is ineffective or unresponsive, and safety, efficacy and pharmacokinetics will be confirmed in the trial.

Nonclinical studies confirmed that JPH203 inhibits uptake of essential amino acids into cancer cells by binding to LAT1, a transporter that is specifically expressed in cancer cells and inhibits maintenance and proliferation of cancer cells. The expression intensity of LAT1 correlates with the malignancy of cancer and JPH203 is expected to be the drug against cancer of high malignancy.

J-Pharma obtained grants from NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization) and has been developing JPH203. J-Pharma will proceed with this Phase 1 clinical trial and promote partnering with domestic and overseas pharmaceutical companies.

※LAT1 （L-type amino acid transporter1）
LAT1 is a twelve tansmembrane protein consisting of 507 amino acid residues cloned in Japan in 1998 and functions as a heterodimer with chaperones. It is highly expressed specifically in cancer cells, incorporates many essential amino acids into cancer cells, and is involved in cancer proliferation and metastasis. LAT2 is expressed in normal cells, and the type of transport amino acids and the transport mechanism are different from LAT1.

※JPH203
It is a low molecular compound newly developed by the founder and Executive Chairman of J-Pharma Dr. Endou et al. It specifically inhibits the function of LAT1 and is expected to become a novel anticancer drug against various types of cancer by a completely different mechanism from existing anticancer drugs.