GERMANTOWN, MD, USA I November 15, 2013 I Chikujee Therapeutics Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the research, development and commercialization of therapeutics for the treatment of various forms of cancer using Aayush BioSphere-its proprietery Clinical Outcome Focused Therapeutic Development Architecture (COFTA).

Chikujee Therapeutics, Inc. has initiated a US FDA compliant IND enabling animal safety studies with its programmable logic therapeutic – CT-187MDR — for the treatment of multi drug resistant ovarian cancer. The studies will address the optimum route of administration and will provide key toxicological, pharmacological, genotoxicological, and toxicokinetic data for IND applications that Chikujee Therapeutics is planning to submit to FDA for review.

“These animal safety studies mark an important step in advancing CT-187MDR from technology to treatment, and will provide key safety data in support of our upcoming clinical trials,” said Dr. Neal Anderson. Results from the studies are expected to conclude by June 2014.

“At the beginning of the year, we identified three important initiatives that we needed to complete this year: implement Aayush BioSphere-a Clinical Outcome Focused Therapeutic Development Platform (licensed from Avanti Therapeutics), develop products for the treatment of ovarian cancer utilizing this platform technology and initiate IND-enabling preclinical studies for these products. We have successfully utilized the unified therapeutic development platform to identify two products for the treatment of ovarian cancer. We have completed the IND-enabling pre-clinical studies for our lead product KATY™ and are in the process of FDA submission for review of clinical protocols. We have identified a second product for the treatment of drug resistant ovarian cancer- CT-187MDR – and have initiated the IND-enabling pre-clinical studies. We are proud to have completed all these goals in less than 10 months. This sets the stage for achieving our key milestones in 2014,” said Dr. Arkesh Mehta, Chikujee Therapeutics’ Chairman and CEO. “Thus we are pleased to announce the start of this important pre-clinical study bringing us closer to monetize our intellectual property.”

About CT-187MDR

CT-187MDR is a novel drug particle that combines multifunctional capabilities including a targeting ligand, non-immunogenic and biodegradable stealth properties in a therapeutic nanoparticle. CT-187MDR contains Paclitaxel, a proven cancer drug which is approved in major cancer indications including breast, prostate and lung, encapsulated in unified biofunctional fabric that is made from biocompatible and biodegradable silica hybrid molecule. CT-187MDR is targeted to multidrug resistant ovarian cancer specific membrane antigen, a cell surface antigen abundantly expressed on the surface of cancer cells and on new blood vessels that feed a wide array of solid tumors. The early development of CT-187MDR was funded in part by Avanti Therapeutics under its Programmable Therapeutics™ Initiative (PTI).

About Chikujee Therapeutics

Chikujee Therapeutics is an innovative clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of programmable therapeutics called NanoBindiTM. Chikujee’s Programmable APITM platform enables the design, engineering and manufacturing of NanoBindis with unprecedented control over drug functionalization properties to maximize targeting to disease sites, dramatically enhancing efficacy while minimizing or eliminating drug toxicities.

Chikujee is developing a pipeline of novel products that hold extraordinary potential to become best-in-class drugs and improve patient outcomes in the areas of oncology. Chikujee’s lead product candidate, KATY, is currently in being finalized for clinical testing in ovarian cancer patients and is designed to selectively target a surface protein up regulated in a broad range of solid tumors. Chikujee also plans to develop Programmable APIs in collaboration with pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners to enable promising pipeline candidates to achieve their full potential and to utilize selective targeting to transform the performance of important existing drug products.

Chikujee is backed by a group of private investors. Chikujee was founded on proprietary technology exclusively licensed from Avanti Therapeutics for oncology applications. For more information, please visit the company’s web site at www.Chikujee.com.

SOURCE: Chikujee Therapeutics