First Patient Dosed in Phase I Clinical Trial of Tigris Pharmaceuticals'...( BONITA SPRINGS Fla. May 1 /- Tigris P...)

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla., May 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Tigris Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held drug development company, announced today that dosing has started in a Phase I clinical trial of GGTI-2418. GGTI-2418 is a synthetic peptidomimetic inhibitor of geranylgeranyltransferase I (GGTase I) that induces apoptosis by downregulating several pivotal oncogenic and tumor survival pathways.

The Phase I study is led by Dr. Peter O'Dwyer, Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Program Leader of the Experimental Therapeutics Program at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, and by Dr. Gabriela Chiorean, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine and a physician/researcher with the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center.

"This is the first geranylgeranyltransferase inhibitor to move to clinical phase studies," stated Edmundo Muniz, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Tigris. "Initiation of this Phase I study of GGTI-2418 in these two top Phase I cancer research centers is a significant step in the development of this first-in-class molecule to treat cancer in many different tumor types."

"We are excited to participate in the first study of this novel agent," commented Dr. Chiorean. "The development of a molecule to inhibit the geranylgeranyltransferase pathway would be a significant advancement in cancer treatment."

The primary objective of the Company's Phase I trial with GGTI-2418 is to determine its safety, tolerability, and recommended Phase II dose. Patients with metastatic solid tumors for which standard treatments have failed, or for whom standard therapies are not available, will be evaluated. The number of patients to be enrolled will depend on the number of patient cohorts investigated until dose-limiting toxicity
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