Lixte Announces Further Developments Regarding the Anti-Cancer Activity of its Patent-Pending Proprietary Compounds

Lixte Biotechnology Holdings, Inc. and its collaborator, the Surgical Neurology Branch (SNB), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), reported at the 1st International Conference on Drug Discovery and Development, Dubai, UAE, February 6, 2008, that its lead compound LB-1, one of a patent-pending proprietary series of agents, has anti-cancer activity against medulloblastoma cells growing in culture and in a mouse model of cancer. Medulloblastoma is the most common brain tumor of children and is often fatal.

Dr. John S. Kovach, the lead presenter and President and CEO of Lixte, said that the company and SNB, NINDS are continuing to develop LB-1 and other compounds for the treatment of human brain cancers. Brain cancers pose a particular challenge to the development of effective drug treatments.

The brain is protected by a physiological barrier which prevents the entry of most potentially effective therapeutic agents. To be effective, drugs must be designed either to pass this barrier or to be administered directly into the brain. "Lixte is pursuing both strategies to deliver its lead compounds to brain cancers," said Dr. Kovach.

In other studies done by Lixte independently of NIH, Dr. Kovach commented, "That LB-1 and other lead compounds have also been found to have anti-cancer activity against a broad range of common human cancers growing in cell culture. The effectiveness of these compounds will now be determined in mouse models of human cancer, starting with lung and pancreatic cancer."

In addition, Dr. Kovach said that, "Some of Lixte's compounds have been shown to have anti-fungal activity. We have found that LB-2.1 and other drugs in a second series of patent-pending proprietary compounds inhibit the growth of several types of fungi that cause life-threatening infections in immuno- compromised patients, such as those with HIV-AIDS or undergoing bone marrow transplantation. Given this lead, Lixte is initiating studies to assess the potential value of these compounds for treatment of serious fungal diseases."