LYNNE COHEN FOUNDATION & ATAIRGIN
CO-FUND DEVELOPMENT OF INNOVATIVE OVARIAN CANCER THERAPY AT MD ANDERSON AND NORTHWESTERN

LOS ANGELES, CA, FEBRUARY 7, 2001 - The Lynne Cohen Foundation for Ovarian Cancer Research and Atairgin Technologies, Inc., Irvine, California announced today that they would co-fund a $400,000 two-year gift to MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. The purpose of this collaborative project is to evaluate lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) not only as a potential diagnostic marker for ovarian cancer, but also in its role as a catalyst in the development and spread of ovarian cancer. LPA is a bioactive lipid and regulating agent in the body, which is believed to be associated with ovarian and other reproductive cancers. Amy Cohen (24), President of The Lynne Cohen Foundation, hopes to help other women avoid the pain and hardship her mother endured during her five year battle with the disease. "The projects we choose," says Amy, "elucidate the extraordinary commitment of The Lynne Cohen Foundation to support research which will increase survival and improve the quality of life for women with ovarian cancer."

Atairgin Technologies, Inc., founded in 1996, is an emerging healthcare technology company dedicated to improving the quality of care in women's health. The Company's platform technology is based on bioactive lipids, or extracellular regulating agents, that enable multiple platform applications in cancer, pregnancy management and reproductive health. Atairgin is currently conducting a 1,600 patient, multi-center US Clinical trial involving LPA to establish the company's proprietary assay as an aid in determining the presence of an ovarian malignancy in women with a suspicious pelvic mass.

In model systems, LPA makes ovarian cancer cells grow, invade, and it contributes to metastases. This suggests that LPA should be investigated as a target for the therapy of ovarian cancer. Indeed, it has been shown that by decreasing levels of LPA, the growth of ovarian cancer cells are markedly inhibited and caused to die. This research will attempt to identify compounds which act as antagonists to the effects of LPA on ovarian cancer cells. The end result could be a non-toxic drug that targets the abnormalities that underlie the development, progression and metastases of ovarian cancer. This drug alone or in combination with other therapies could potentially improve the outcome of ovarian cancer therapy and ameliorate the morbidity and mortality associated with this devastating disease. The principal investigators at MD Anderson, Xian-Jun Fang, Ph.D., Department of Molecular Therapeutics, and Gordon Mills, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Molecular Therapeutics, will be collaborating with David Fishman, M.D., who is the principal investigator and the Director of Gynecologic Oncology Research at Northwestern University.

Ovarian cancer is considered the most deadly gynecological cancer, striking 27,000 women and killing approximately 14,000 every year in the United States. Presently there is no early detection test for ovarian cancer. As a result, 75% of the women diagnosed have late stage disease and only a 12% chance of surviving five years. The Lynne Cohen Foundation is committed to changing those statistics and believes that further investigation of LPA is of the utmost relevance. Last year at The Cleveland symposium, the Foundation participated in funding research studying the role of LPA in ovarian cancer detection.

A recent recipient of the Reader's Digest Health Heroes Award, The Lynne Cohen Foundation for Ovarian Cancer Research is a unique nonprofit foundation that raises funds for cutting-edge medical research in the women's healthcare field. Created in 1998 in memory of Lynne Cohen by her three daughters (in their twenties), the Lynne Cohen Foundation is dedicated to finding an early detection test for ovarian cancer, to establishing high risk symposiums for women with family members who have been diagnosed with ovarian and/or breast cancer, and to finding better Clinical treatments for women struggling with the disease. In October, the Foundation opened The Lynne Cohen Cancer Screening & symposium Project at NYU Medical Center in New York, and on April 9th will open The Lynne Cohen High Risk symposium for Women's Cancers at USC/Norris Cancer Center in Los Angeles.

For more information, please contact:

Trudy Harris
The Lynne Cohen Foundation
310.571.9126

Susan Neisloss
Atairgin Technologies, Inc.
310.207.9300

Danni Sabota
MD Anderson Cancer Center
713.792.0664

Elizabeth Crown
Northwestern University Medical School
312.503.8928

BACK TO PRESS ROOM MAIN