Overview

HemaQuest is developing a clinical program to evaluate antiviral drugs in combination with compounds that modulate the activities of anti-viral drugs in patients with lymphoma or lymphoproliferative disorders (LPD) that are associated with Epstein Barr virus (EBV). Previously, a clinical trial conducted by Drs. Faller and Perrine evaluated the investigational drug arginine butyrate (or HQK-1004) in patients with these serious and life-threatening diseases. The trial showed promising results and was published in the leading hematology journal, Blood (Blood 2007). In this trial, 10 out of 15 patients with relapsed or refractory disease demonstrated objective tumor responses to a 3-week infusion of HQK-1004 combined with the commonly used anti-viral drug, ganciclovir. The treatment was well-tolerated without the side effects commonly observed with cancer chemotherapy drugs (e.g., marrow suppression).

Further laboratory studies and the rapid tumor responses observed in the initial clinical study suggested that a more abbreviated course of therapy may also be effective. Therefore, a 5-day HQK-1004 treatment regimen has been evaluated in a similar patient population in one multicenter trial sponsored by HemaQuest and two single-patient compassionate use studies. These studies are now closed to enrollment. While these studies showed promising antitumor response, further development of HQK-1004 has been suspended because a 5-day infusion regimen was deemed impractical for clinical use.

In 2011, HemaQuest will investigate other compounds in combination with anti-viral therapies in patients with EBV-associated LPDs and lymphomas.