Australian biotechnology company Prescient Therapeutics is enrolling up to 12 new patients for the next round of trials on its target therapy PTX-100 for blood cancers.

The company completed the first round of its Phase 1b trials of the drug in July 2021, with those original tests focusing on solid tumours (both pancreatic and colorectal cancers) and haematological malignancies.

The original cohort of 10 patients – five with each kind of cancer being tested on – demonstrated that PTX-100 has an “excellent” safety profile, paving the way for further tests.

This new expansion cohort will help Prescient test the drug against T-cell lymphomas, which the company described as “aggressive and rare blood cancers”.

Prescient is particularly interested in the drug’s effect in patients with peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL), especially given encouraging preliminary efficacy observed in the first stage of trial, where a patient with aggressive PTCL that had failed a number of prior therapies experienced a reduction in cancer burden and continues to receive PTX-100, which has kept the cancer at bay for 24 months so far. Typically one would expect around a quarter of patients to respond no longer than four months with standard treatments.

“PTCL is a blood cancer of substantial unmet need and represents an exciting clinical and commercial opportunity for PTX-100,” the company said.

“Prescient will also aim to include several patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL).  CTCL clinical samples will bolster insights on drug activity in T-cell lymphomas overall.”

The tests will be led by Professor H. Miles Prince AM, a leading haematologist with more than 450 published journal articles.

Professor Prince is a professor at both the University of Melbourne and Monash University with extensive research experience in several fields, including genomics, how the immune system responds to cancer growth, and stem cells.

He joined Prescient’s Scientific Advisory Board in December 2020.

Prescient expects enrolment of the expansion cohort – which will include between eight and 12 T-cell lymphoma patients – to be completed by the end of 2022.

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Sources:

• Prescient Therapeutics ASX Announcements, PTX-100 Trial Progress to Expansion Cohort Following Successful Phase 1b
• Barta SK, et al. Clin Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk. 2019 Jun;19(6):356-364