Oncology drug developer Telik has received a $1.5 million contract to continue the development of a PET imaging agent to detect and assess pancreatic cancer.
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract is designed to support the second phase of preclinical work between Telik, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), and MabVax Therapeutics, a firm that merged with Telik in July.
Last month, MabVax and MSKCC completed phase I of the SBIR contract by successfully demonstrating the feasibility of the project. The research contract accrues to Telik as a result of its merger with MabVax.
The PET agent is a radiolabeled 5B1 antibody that binds to the carbohydrate antigen sialyl-Lewis a (sLea). sLea is expressed on pancreatic, colon, and stomach cancer cells at high levels, and increased sLea expression on tumors is correlated with poor clinical outcome, according to Telik.
