27th Jun 2023 10:01
(Alliance News) - Evgen Pharma PLC on Tuesday said its lead asset SFX-01 has radio-sensitising effects in vivo in a form of soft tissue sarcoma, as part of its research partnership with Sapienza University of Rome.
The Cheshire, England-based clinical stage drug development company said SFX-01 had this positive effect for Rhabdomyosarcoma, the most frequent soft tissue sarcoma in childhood and a rare type cancer which can develop in muscle, fat, blood vessels, or in "any of the other tissues that support, surround and protect the organs of the body".
A radiosensitising agent is a drug that makes tumour cells more sensitive to radiation therapy, enhancing its effectiveness, according to Evgen Pharma.
It said SFX-01 was shown to be effective at reducing the growth of tumour masses given as a single agent dosed once daily orally, as demonstrated by data presented at ESMO Sarcoma and Rare Cancers Congress in March.
It was also given in combination with a radiotherapy regime where it was "shown to act synergistically", Evgen Pharma said, resulting in a more positive outcome than would be expected by simply adding the two agents together.
The work was carried out by Francesco Marampon of the Department of Radiotherapy and Simona Camero of Francesca Megiorni's research group at the Department of Experimental Medicine at the Sapienza University of Rome.
Evgen Pharma said the data from both sets of studies will now be brought together for submission to a peer reviewed publication.
"The collaboration with Prof Marampon's group continues to generate very encouraging data on SFX-01 as a radio-sensitising agent - demonstrating the possibilities for SFX-01 wherever radiotherapy is used as standard of care," said Evgen Pharma Chief Business Officer Helen Kuhlman.
"Our clinical work has shown that SFX-01 is safe and well tolerated, so its potential to enhance the effects of radiotherapy without causing additional therapeutic burden on patients is highly exciting."
Lead Investigator Marampon added: "The systemic therapy of rhabdomyosarcomas has not changed in recent decades and the frequent finding of locoregional recurrences suggests the need for radio-sensitising therapies that increase local control. Unfortunately, with sarcomas, particularly with rhabdomyosarcoma, exciting data are rarely obtained in vivo and, precisely for this reason, I am very excited to observe this result."
Shares in Evgen Pharma were up 5.2% to 3.26 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.
By Greg Rosenvinge, Alliance News reporter
Comments and questions to [email protected]
Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
EVG.L