Innovive Pharmaceuticals Inc. bolstered its growing oncology pipeline with the addition of a Phase II-stage doxorubicin prodrug.

The New York firm in-licensed worldwide development and commercialization rights to DOXO-EMCH, renamed INNO-206, from KTB Tumorforschungs GmbH, a Freiburg, Germany-based research institute. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The company could not be reached for comment, but said in a press release that it plans to quickly begin a Phase II study of INNO-206 in a solid-tumor indication.

Doxorubicin, an anthracycline, has been known for its efficacy in solid tumors, as well as the side effects, such as myelosuppression and extravasation, that commonly are associated with chemotherapy.

As a prodrug formulation, INNO-206 is designed to work by binding to circulating albumin, a protein that accumulates in tumors, via an acid-sensitive linker following administration. The bound product then is released into the acidic environment of the tumor, where it is cleaved to release the doxorubicin.

In a Phase I study, the product demonstrated safety, even when dosing was four times the standard amount for doxorubicin, and objective clinical responses were seen in patients with sarcoma, breast and lung cancers.

INNO-206 is the fourth product acquired since the company was founded in 2004 to develop drugs in oncology and hematology.

Innovive acquired worldwide rights to INNO-105, an opioid growth factor, from Pennsylvania State University in May 2005, and that product is in an ongoing Phase I trial in pancreatic cancer.

The company recently started a Phase I study with a second product, INNO-406, a dual Bcr-Abl/Lyn kinase inhibitor, in chronic myelogenous leukemia patients who are resistant to Gleevec (imatinib, from Novartis AG). INNO-406 was licensed in January from Kyoto, Japan-based Nippon Shinyaku Co. Ltd. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 6, 2006.)

Also in January, Innovive added INNO-305 to its pipeline through a licensing agreement with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. That compound is a WT1 peptide cancer immunotherapeutic designed to stimulate CD8 and CD4 cells. A Phase I trial is expected to begin this quarter.

For the second quarter, Innovive reported a net loss of $4.9 million, and ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents totaling $12.4 million.