The collaboration will generate new information aiming at the development of new therapeutic APIs. The XR-17™ proprietary platform technology enhances intravenous delivery of established and novel drugs in diseases including cancer.

The collaboration will include a review of data and experimental methods to gain a deeper understanding of XR-17 and API formulations in cancer indications with a focus on ovarian carcinoma. This will be followed by an experimental planning phase, which aims to test formulations in suitable systems to generate hypotheses for subsequent evaluation.

Commenting on the collaboration, François Martelet, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Oasmia, said: “XR-17’s potential to improve drug solubility has been demonstrated by the approval of Apealea® for ovarian cancer in Europe, with a second investigational product preparing to enter clinical studies in Switzerland this year. We are delighted to be working with the Karolinska Institutet, one of the most prestigious medical universities and research centers in the world, to further develop our understanding of the potential of this technology in enhancing cancer treatment. Our collaboration with Prof. Rolf Lewensohn and his team at the Department of Oncology-Pathology may lead to the identification of additional applications for the technology and the development of new therapeutics to benefit cancer and other patients.”

Prof. Rolf Lewensohn, Principal Investigator at the Karolinska Institutet, Department of Oncology-Pathology, said: “We are looking forward to working with Oasmia on this project. The knowledge and understanding we will be able to generate through this collaboration will help us to better understand the biological properties of XR-17 by defining plasma and target tissue behavior and receptor and transporter affinity. This important work could ultimately enable new study protocols to be drafted.”

For More Information: 

Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB 
Francois Martelet, Chief Executive Officer 
Phone: +46 18-50 54 40 
E-mail: IR@oasmia.com

Consilium Strategic Communications (For Oasmia)
Jonathan Birt, Chris Welsh, Ashley Tapp
Phone: +44 (0)20 3709 5700 
E-mail: oasmia@consilium-comms.com

About Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB
Oasmia is a specialty pharma company dedicated to improving the lives of patients by enhancing the intravenous delivery of established and novel drugs in significant diseases, including cancer. Product development is based on Oasmia’s proprietary drug delivery platform ™ which can be applied to medicines used in many therapeutic areas, to develop water soluble formulations of drugs that currently require chemical solubilizers for dissolution. The first product approved using this technology is Apealea® (paclitaxel micellar). Apealea has received market authorization in the European Union and several other territories for the treatment of first relapse in platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer, in combination with carboplatin. The Company is making Apealea accessible to patients through its partnership with Elevar Therapeutics, together with its existing commercial operations in the Nordic region. Oasmia’s shares are traded on the Nasdaq Stockholm stock exchange (ticker: OASM). To find out more about Oasmia please visit www.oasmia.com.

About Karolinska Institutet
Karolinska Institutet (KI), is Sweden’s only university especially focusing on biomedical sciences. In addition, KI annually awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. KI ranks as one of the world’s leading medical universities, thanks in part to the quality of its research activities, which today account for 40 per cent of all medical research in Sweden.

KI has about 4 550 employees (full-time equivalents), nearly two-thirds of whom are female. About 80 per cent of KI’s income is devoted to research, distributed among around 600 research groups covering all medical fields. KI provides excellent postgraduate training with 2000 registered PhD students from around the world who are active in both basic and clinical research.

Research at KI has a strong European dimension, with almost 200 project participations within the EU’s now closed Sixth Framework Programme (FP6). Of these, KI coordinated 28 projects. KI was a major player in FP7, participating in around 323 projects including 36 as coordinator as well as 31 European Research Council Grants. KI has to date been awarded 248 contracts within Horizon 2020, 14 as coordinator and 35 European Research Council Grants. KI is also a major European beneficiary of funds from the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. To find out more about KI please visit https://ki.se/en