Anti-cancer compounds

(54) ANTI-CANCER COMPOUNDS

(75) Inventor: James Harrison Aylward, Queensland (AU)

(73) Assignee: Peplin Biotech Pty. Ltd., Fortitude Valley (AU)

( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days.

(21) Appl. No.: 09/888,178

(22) Filed: Jun. 21, 2001

(65) Prior Publication Data

US 2002/0076457 Al Jun. 20, 2002

Related U.S. Application Data

(63) Continuation of application No. 09/486,199, filed as application No. PCT/AU98/00656 on Aug. 19, 1998, now Pat. No. 6,432,452.

(30) Foreign Application Priority Data

Aug. 19, 1997 (AU) PO8640

(51) Int. CI.7 A61K 35/78; A61K 31/12;

A61K 31/045

(52) U.S. CI 424/725; 424/195.18; 514/675;

514/691; 514/729; 514/738

(58) Field of Search 424/725, 195.18;

514/675, 491, 729, 738

(56) References Cited

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS

4,418,064 A 11/1983 Powell et al 424/248.54

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5,932,613 A * 8/1999 Jiang et al.

6,432,452 Bl * 8/2002 Aylward

FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS

CN 1077129 10/1993 A61K/35/78

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WO WO 97/15575 5/1997 C07D/487/02

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

El-Merzabani et al. Planta Med. 1979. vol. 36, pp. 150-155.*

M. Belkin et al.; Tumor—Damaging Capacity of Plant materials. I. Plants Used as Cathartics, Natl. Cancer Inst., 13, Apr. 7, 1952, pp. 139-149.

D. Weedon et al., Home Treatment of Basal Cell Carcinoma, Med. J. Aust., 1, Jun. 12, 1976, p. 928.

* cited by examiner

Primary Examiner—Christopher R. Tate

(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Scully, Scott, Murphy &

Presser

This invention relates to a compound or group of compounds present in an active principle derived from plants of species Euphorbia peplus, Euphorbia hirta and Euphorbia drummondii, and to pharmaceutical compositions comprising these compounds. Extracts from these plants have been found to show selective cytotoxicity against several different cancer cell lines. The compounds are useful in effective treatment of cancers, particularly malignant melanomas and squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs). In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the compound is selected from the group consisting of jatrophanes, pepluanes, paralianes and ingenanes, and pharmaceutically-acceptable salts or esters thereof, and more particularly jatrophanes of Conformation II.

16 Claims, 13 Drawing Sheets