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10th May 2016

OncoTherics is raising investment to pursue a Phase II trial in pancreatic cancer

OncoTherics is raising investment to pursue a Phase II trial in pancreatic cancer with its new and exciting prodrug therapies. The company has entered the VOOM 2016 competition and need your votes – click here to add your support.

The goal for OncoTherics is to develop new drugs that target areas of the tumour that conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy cannot reach.

Specifically, the company’s interests concern the biology of hypoxic tumour microenvironments and the role these microenvironments play in the resistance and spread of a variety of cancers.

The Team:

The team brings together world class leading expertise in cancer research, clinical drug development, medicinal chemistry and clinical trial design and management. Using their collective experience, they have put together a compelling opportunity with an exciting new drug, and targeting one of the most difficult to treat cancers.

The Clinical Problem:

In every solid tumour there are regions that are starved of oxygen. This happens because tumour cells divide rapidly and as they do so, some cells move away from the blood supply, creating low oxygen microenvironments. Most cells cannot survive without an oxygen supply, but some resistant cancer cells are able to switch their metabolism and effectively lie dormant in these hypoxic microenvironments.

The problem is that conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy cannot reach these hypoxic cancer cells, so unfortunately they lie waiting for an opportunity to reconnect to the blood supply. When they do, the presence of oxygen allows them to switch back to normal metabolism, whereupon they rapidly divide and spread.

The consequence of not being able to kill all of the cancer cells in the tumour is early relapse and ultimately treatment failure.

The Solution:

OncoTherics’ solution is to target the hypoxic microenvironment with a new class of pro-drugs (uHAP’s). The new pro-drugs are able to penetrate the whole tumour including the difficult to reach hypoxic regions. When they reach a hypoxic cancer cell, the prodrug is metabolised into a highly effective and persistent Topo II inhibitor – a well known and potent anti-cancer drug. So, by giving our prodrug alongside conventional chemotherapy, we are ensuring the effective treatment of the whole tumour.

The Opportunity:

The global oncology drugs market is growing at around 7% and is expected to be worth around $112bn by 2020.

OncoTherics’ uHAP’s have wide application across a broad spectrum of cancers. They are particularly useful in very hypoxic tumours, like pancreatic cancer and glioblastoma. Although rare and difficult to diagnose and treat, the pancreatic cancer market is growing rapidly at around 25% and is estimated to be worth over $1.6bn next year (2017). In many respects it is the ideal target disease for a uHAP.

Focus: Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer is a real challenge. It is difficult to detect, difficult to treat and with only 4% survival after 5 years it accounts for 5% of all cancer deaths. In recent years it has been responsible for the death of Steve Jobs, Patrick Swayze, Luciano Pavrotti and Alan Rickman.

For the first time in a long time, there is an opportunity to make a real difference in this desperate disease. OncoTherics’ uHAP’s will get in, target the hypoxic microenvironment and be irreversibly converted to the ideal persistent toxin.

There is clear evidence that hypoxia is involved in the malignant progression of pancreatic cancer. The strongly positive TOPO II alpha expression in malignant endocrine pancreatic tumours, which aligns very strongly with the uHAP mechanism of action as TOPO II inhibitors.

Investment Case:

OncoTherics has the right team and the right technology to make a significant difference in treating pancreatic cancer.

Because pancreatic cancer is very difficult to treat, conventional investors shy away from this disease – believing it to be too risky – which is why there has been no significant progress in therapy for the last 50 years.

The team are looking for the right investors to help us progress our exciting therapies. Their lead agent has already demonstrated an excellent safety record and an unusually low side effect profile in clinical trials in over 125 patients.

OncoTherics are now ready to start a phase II trial in 250 patients – but this is very expensive, costing £24M over the next four years.

  • For a total investment of £24M, the company will be able to progress its lead agent through Phase II clinical trials and hopefully make a real difference to treating pancreatic cancer.
  • £40K enables the team to file orphan drug applications in Europe, USA and Canada
  • £500K enables the team to make 10kg of clinical grade drug to use in phase II trials
  • £2M allows the team to progress its new agent – OCT1002 – through preclinical toxicology
  • £4.1M allows the team to progress its lead agent through a preliminary phase Ib trial in 50 patients

Your vote helps OncoTherics raise the profile of Pancreatic Cancer and the need for bold investors who want to make a difference to the prognosis of this lethal disease.

For more information, contact the team here or view the website here.