"Cancer is a disease of DNA and synthetic biology uses genetic tools to offer us entirely new approaches to addressing its challenges," said Mark Thornton, M.D., Ph.D., Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer of ZIOPHARM. "IL-12, for example, naturally elicits an immune response to cancer, but is too toxic to be given as a recombinant protein. By producing IL-12 in the body with a DNA-based drug, and using our unique technology to switch this production on or off with a pill, we expect to achieve therapeutic levels of IL-12 without being limited by the toxicities typically associated with recombinant therapy. Both Ad-RTS-IL-12 and DC-RTS-IL-12 (INXN 3001/1001), our clinical-stage candidate that employs the patient's transduced dendritic cells to deliver Ad-RTS-IL-12, represent truly novel and pioneering treatment."

Data from two preclinical studies of Ad-RTS-IL-12 in various in vivo cancer models will be presented at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT), being held May 18-21 in Seattle, Washington. Data from a Phase Ib trial with DC-RTS-IL-12 will be presented at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) being held June 3-7 in Chicago, Illinois.

Source: ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.