Mark Davis, founder of Insert Therapeutics, holds a vial of IT-101, the nanoparticle therapeutic he invented. (Photo: Tara Thomas)

October 9, 2007 — Insert Therapeutics Inc., a majority-owned subsidiary of Arrowhead Research Corp. (Nasdaq: ARWR), has announced that its lead anti-cancer compound, IT-101, will be featured in a public television documentary series produced by Thirteen/WNET New York and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). IT-101 is an experimental drug now undergoing clinical trials at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, Calif.

The series, named CURIOUS, consists of two one-hour documentaries that will air on public television beginning this month. Its focus is the research at the California Institute of Technology and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. One of its episodes, titled “Survival,” chronicles the early research on IT-101 by Mark Davis, founder of Insert Therapeutics and professor of chemical engineering at Caltech. The show also follows the progress of the first patient in the IT-101 clinical trial.

IT-101 is a conjugate of Insert’s proprietary drug delivery molecule, Cyclosert, and the potent anti-cancer compound camptothecin. In June 2007, interim data from the Phase 1 study of IT-101 currently underway at City of Hope Cancer Center in Southern California was published in the 2007 American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Proceedings (Abstract ID 32638).

Stable disease was reported in several patients who completed the six-cycle treatment regimen. In the patients studied, IT-101 showed longer half life, lower clearance and lower volume of distribution than seen in patients treated with other camptothecin-based drugs. The study is ongoing and Insert expects to enter Phase II studies later this year or early next year.

The CURIOUS Survival episode is scheduled to air in New York on October 11, Dallas on October 16 and in Los Angeles on November 15 at 9 p.m., and will be available in other markets beginning in January.