CEOCFO-Members Login
Become A Member!
|
This is a printer friendly page!
Telik’s Two Most Advanced Compounds Are
TELINTRA® For The Treatment Of Myelodysplastic Syndrome, A Form
Of Pre-Leukemia, And TELCYTA® A Tumor-Activated Prodrug In Development For
The Treatment Of Lung And Ovarian Cancers
Healthcare
Drug Manufacturers - Other
(TELK-NASDAQ)
Telik, Inc.
3165 Porter Drive
Palo Alto, CA 94304
Phone: 650-845-7700
Dr. Michael M. Wick, M.D., Ph.D.
Chairman, President and CEO
Cynthia M. Butitta
Chief Operating Officer and CFO
Interview conducted by:
Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor
CEOCFOinterviews.com
Published – March 7, 2008
BIO:
Chairman,
Chief Executive Officer and President
Michael M. Wick, M.D., Ph.D. joined Telik in 1997 from CV Therapeutics, Inc.
where he was Senior Vice President of Research and Development. Prior to
joining CV Therapeutics, Dr. Wick was Executive Director of
Oncology/Immunology and Clinical Research at Lederle Laboratories, a
division of American Cyanamid, where he also directed the Cyanamid/ Immunex
joint oncology research program. Dr. Wick began his career at Harvard
Medical School, where he was an Associate Professor. He also was Chief of
the Melanoma Clinic and Laboratory of Molecular Dermatological Oncology at
the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Wick holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from
Harvard University and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School.
Company Profile:
Telik, Inc. of Palo Alto, CA, is a
biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and
commercializing novel small molecule drugs to treat serious diseases. The
company's most advanced drug development candidates are TELCYTA®,
a tumor-activated prodrug for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer and
non-small cell lung cancer, and TELINTRA®, a modified glutathione
analog for the treatment of myelodysplastic syndrome. Telik's product
candidates were discovered using its proprietary drug discovery technology,
TRAP™, which enables the rapid and efficient discovery of small molecule
drug candidates.
CEOCFO: Dr. Wick, what was your vision
when you joined Telik, and where are you today?
Dr. Wick: “Telik is a biopharmaceutical
company focused on using its proprietary drug discovery technology (called
TRAP™) to enable us to identify small molecule drug candidates that could be
developed as treatments for a wide variety of cancers. All of our drug
candidates were discovered internally using TRAP and this continues to be
our vision since we joined the company in 1997.”
CEOCFO:
Please tell us about your TRAP technology; what makes it different?
Dr. Wick: “TRAP is a drug discovery
technology based on the principle that certain features of small molecules
are recognized by biological targets important for the treatment of diseases
such as cancer. By computationally modeling these interactions, a molecular
fingerprint for every compound is established and these fingerprints are
used to predict a successful interaction between a compound and a specific
biological target. By using TRAP, a “hit” compound can be obtained after
testing far fewer compounds than is typically done using high-throughput
screening, thereby shortening the screening process and making it more
efficient and cost effective.”
CEOCFO:
What are your current projects?
Dr. Wick: “We have two lead product
candidates. TELINTRA® (ezatiostat hydrochloride) is currently in
development for the treatment of myelodysplastic syndrome, which is a form
of pre-leukemia. We also plan to begin clinical testing of TELINTRA in
another hematologic indication, chemotherapy-induced neutropenia, which is a
major side effect caused by chemotherapy. The second compound, TELCYTA®
(canfosfamide hydrochloride) is a tumor-activated anticancer drug. TELCYTA
has been tested extensively in Phase II trials in ovarian cancer, non-small
cell lung cancer, and breast cancer and has shown tumor responses across
those trials with a very good tolerability profile. Beyond that, we have a
pipeline of additional earlier stage compounds that are directed against a
variety of validated cancer targets.”
CEOCFO: Why
have you chosen those particular areas?
Dr. Wick: “There is a critical
requirement for new drugs to treat ovarian cancer. In more than 50% of the
cases, the disease has already spread at the time of diagnosis, so clearly
it is a huge unmet need for those patients. With lung cancer, especially
with the increase of the disease among non-smokers and in spite of some
recent advances, the survival with our best drugs is still measured in
months. Therefore, it is clear both of these diseases are very important
areas that need improving in the therapeutic options for cancer patients.”
CEOCFO: Are
you working on these yourself; are you doing collaborations?
Dr. Wick: “We discovered these compounds
internally using our own discovery technology. We have been conducting the
preclinical and clinical development ourselves along with many dedicated
investigators and thousands of patients. We have to thank and give credit to
investigators and patients, because without their participation, it would be
impossible to bring new cancer drugs forward. Our current strategy is to
enter into partnerships with larger biotechnology or pharmaceutical
companies that offer the means to accelerate clinical development and reduce
time to market. We would like to retain some commercial rights to our drug
product candidates in the U.S.”
CEOCFO:
Will you tell us about the financial picture of the company?
Ms. Butitta: “We have a very strong
balance sheet and we have enough capital to allow us to continue to develop
our drugs over the next couple of years. We have been very fortunate to
raise the capital necessary to advance our programs.”
CEOCFO:
What is it about Telik that gives you the capital when so many others are
struggling?
Ms. Butitta: “A lot has to do with the
drugs that we are developing. They address very large markets, as Mike
indicated, with unmet medical needs and we are going to be benefiting
patients with the successful outcome of the drug development we have
ongoing. In addition, over the past nine years we have proven that we are
able to execute and achieve our development milestones. When we make a
commitment to our investors, we have met that commitment.”
CEOCFO: You
have collaborations with research centers as well; whom are you working
with?
Dr. Wick: “We are working with many of
the leading cancer centers in the United States. We have relationships with
Cleveland Clinic, The Harvard Cancer Center, MD Anderson and the University
of Connecticut. Further, our clinical trials have been conducted not only in
the United States but in Europe and South America as well.”
CEOCFO: Do
you find it different in the results in testing in different parts of the
world?
Dr. Wick: “There is a worldwide oncology
community. Many of these people have trained at the same institutions and
are united by a common bond of being very interested in treating a difficult
disease. Many of the clinicians are dissatisfied with current therapy and
want to move the area forward. The American Society of Clinical Oncology,
for example, has been a very important clearinghouse for the exchange of
scientific information with a large meeting held once a year. More
physicians come to that meeting from outside than from inside the United
States. We are actually very gratified with the high quality of the sites we
work with worldwide.”
CEOCFO:
What is down the road two or three years for Telik?
Ms. Butitta: “TELINTRA will be entering
two Phase II studies this year, one in myelodysplastic syndrome and the
other in chemotherapy induced neutropenia. We would expect to have data on
these two Phase II studies within the next 12-24 months. In addition, we
have our second compound TELCYTA, which has completed several Phase II/III
studies and we will be looking to complete a corporate partnership for the
drug to accelerate its development and commercialization.”
CEOCFO:
What is in the pipeline ready to be started when the time and money is
right?
Dr. Wick: “TRAP continues to perform.
The drug discovery technology has allowed us to identify novel inhibitors of
aurora kinases, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR), and
other targets involved in cancer. Aurora kinases are essential for
maintaining genomic integrity. They are frequently over-expressed in tumor
cells. Inhibition of these enzymes arrests cell division and causes cell
death. VEGFR is an important target in limiting the blood supply to tumors.
We will be presenting preliminary data on these programs at the American
Association for Cancer Research meeting this spring and expect to put
another compound in the clinic by the end of this year. Not all of these new
compounds are going to work; cancer is a difficult disease, but with our
technology and our people, we can continue to advance compounds so,
hopefully, one of them will succeed.”
CEOCFO: Do
you consider licensing out your technology?
Dr. Wick: “We have. Over the last ten
years, we have had several collaborations that have used our technology to
find new drugs and we will continue to offer the technology to appropriate
parties, which will generate incremental revenue. In addition, as Cynthia
pointed out, we are going to focus on licensing the products, to accelerate
their development (which is a very expensive endeavor) and decrease time to
commercialization.”
CEOCFO: Why
should investors choose Telik out of the crowd?
Dr. Wick: “We have a history of
executing on our plans and meeting our milestones. We have a strong
proprietary position with hundreds of patents issued for our compounds,
which are a very important asset to our company. We have a drug pipeline and
a group of employees that have shown the ability not only to discover but
also to conduct clinical development on our drug candidates. In my
experience, Telik is unique in that regard.”
CEOCFO:
What should people reading this story remember most about Telik?
Dr. Wick: “At Telik we have a group of
dedicated employees who are brought together by the opportunity to do
something meaningful from a scientific as well as from a medical and
clinical point of view, and leave their mark on a dreadful disease. Clearly,
it is a riskier environment to work in, but they feel that the freedom they
give in accomplishing something is well worth the risk they take and I think
the employees make the company.”
disclaimers
Any reproduction or further distribution of this
article without the express written consent of CEOCFOinterviews.com is prohibited.
|
