Keystone Nano Announces Start Of Clinical Testing Of Ceramide NanoLiposome For The Improved Treatment Of Cancer

STATE COLLEGE, Pa., April 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Keystone Nano, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on improving cancer treatments through the application of nanotechnology, announced today that clinical testing has been started for Ceramide NanoLiposome.  The therapy is being tested at three leading cancer Institutes:

• the Greenebaum Cancer Center of the University of Maryland,
• the Medical University of South Carolina, and
• the University of Virginia Cancer Center.

These Centers will conduct the Phase I clinical trial to assess Ceramide NanoLiposome in the treatment of solid tumors.  Dr. Mark Kester, Keystone Nano's Chief Medical Officer and the Director of the University of Virginia's NanoSTAR program, and the original developer of Ceramide NanoLiposome remarked: "I am very pleased this has reached the clinic.  Primary liver cancer is a devastating disease with incredibly poor outcomes and very few treatment options.  Ceramide NanoLiposome offers the potential to increase treatment options for these patients."  

"This is the first step in achieving one of the primary goals of Keystone Nano, to apply nanotechnology to create new therapeutic opportunities that cannot be pursued without our novel nanoscale platforms," noted Dr. James Adair, Keystone Nano's Chief Science Officer. 

Ceramide is a biologically active lipid that has shown efficacy in multiple models of liver cancer, as well as in breast cancer, leukemia and pancreatic cancer.  Evidence collected in a large number of research tests (in vitro and in vivo) has clearly demonstrated that Ceramide NanoLiposome kills cancer cells while leaving normal cells alone, providing treatment without undue toxicity. 

The Phase I portion of the trial will recruit patients with solid tumors to establish dosing and safety.  The Phase II component of the trial is expected to focus on Liver Cancer, which kills approximately 27,000 people in the United States and 700,000 worldwide each year.  There is currently no effective therapy for this disease.  Keystone Nano was recently awarded orphan drug status for the treatment of liver cancer with ceramides in the United States.

About Keystone Nano, Inc.  Based in State College KN is working at the interface between nanotechnology and medicine. In addition to developing Ceramide NanoLiposome, the company is working on additional products using NanoJackets for RNA delivery. For more information visit www.keystonenano.com.

SOURCE Keystone Nano, Inc.

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