AB Science announces that results from AB8939 preclinical program in acute myeloid leukemia will be presented at the European Hematology Association 2020 Annual Congress

Paris, 10 June 2020, 9pm

Results from AB8939 preclinical program in acute myeloid leukemia presented at the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2020 Annual Congress

AB Science SA (Euronext - FR0010557264 - AB) today announces that an abstract reporting results from its AB8939 preclinical development program in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), is to be presented as an e-Poster at the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2020 Annual Congress.

Entitled, ‘AB8939, a Novel Microtubule-Destabilizing Agent for the Treatment of Acute Myeloid Leukemia’, this e-Poster presentation will be made available on the on-demand Virtual Congress platform as of Friday, June 12 at 08:30 CEST and will be accessible until October 15, 2020.

The Annual Congress of EHA is a flagship meeting that encompasses the entire spectrum of hematological studies. The Annual Congress regularly attracts 11,000 participants and experts from across the globe. Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, EHA will deliver this year’s Congress as a Virtual Edition, consisting of pre-recorded content. The virtual congress program can be viewed via the following link:  https://ehaweb.org/congress/eha25/program/.

The therapeutic potential of AB8939 in AML is demonstrated using Ara-C resistant and azacitidine resistant patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models. Ara-C is considered the clinically most relevant cytotoxic agent for AML treatment, while azacitidine is a widely used hypomethylating agent for AML.

“Overall, these results support development of AB8939 as a treatment of relapsed/refractory AML patients unable to receive intensive chemotherapy, which is a particularly vulnerable group with a high unmet medical need” commented Professor Olivier Hermine (lead author of the abstract and member of the Académie des Sciences in France). “Important mechanisms of action for AB8939 in AML are that it can overcome P-glycoprotein mediated resistance and, remarkably for a microtubule inhibitor, it is not deactivated by the myeloperoxidase (MPO) myeloid enzyme.”

Key findings include:

• AB8939 overcomes P-glycoprotein (Pgp) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) mediated resistance
• AB8939 is active in Ara-C resistant/refractory AML, with activity seen across all AML subtypes
• AB8939 alone or combined with Ara-C, improved survival and reduced disease burden relative to Ara-C alone
• AB8939 is active in azacitidine resistant AML, with greatly reduced hematotoxicity relative to azacitidine

About AB8939