– Data set illustrates the potential of investigational drug candidate Cantrixil as a treatment for ovarian cancer –
Uppsala, Sweden, April 12, 2021 – Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB, an innovation-focused specialty pharmaceutical company, last night presented final data from the dose-escalation and dose-expansion cohorts of a Phase I trial of the investigational drug candidate Cantrixil (TRX-E-002-1) at the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting.
The full Phase I data was presented in a 15-minute oral presentation by the clinical trial’s Principal Investigator, Jermaine Coward, Associate Professor, ICON Cancer Centre, located in Brisbane, Australia.
A conference call scheduled by Oasmia today at 14:00 CEST has been postponed to enable publication of the data in a peer reviewed journal.
Top-line data previously reported by Kazia Therapeutics Ltd in December 2020 from the Phase I open-label study (NCT02903771) conducted at sites in the USA and Australia confirmed that the Phase I study met its primary endpoints, establishing clinical proof of concept.
Further clinical evaluation of the data has confirmed that Cantrixil may induce ovarian cancer stem cell (OCSC) death and sensitize cancer cells to standard chemotherapy. An encouraging signal was also seen in patients with platinum-refractory ovarian cancer. The full data also confirms the maximum tolerated dose of Cantrixil to be 5.0 mg/kg when administered weekly via intraperitoneal injection.
Principal Investigator for the trial Dr. Jermaine Coward, Associate Professor, ICON Cancer Centre, commented, “Survival outcomes for patient with mid to late-stage ovarian cancer are poor when using standard cytotoxic chemotherapy and around 80% will experience disease recurrence within 2 years. This full data further underscores the potential of Cantrixil for these patients. It is particularly exciting to see a potential impact on ovarian cancer stem cells which have been heavily implicated as a potential driver of disease recurrence.”
Dr. Reinhard Koenig, Oasmia’s Chief Scientific Officer added, “Oasmia has a growing pipeline of oncology programmes in clinical development. This is excellent news and supports our belief in the potential therapeutic benefits of the investigational drug candidate Cantrixil for the treatment of ovarian cancer. We look forward to progressing the programme in clinical development next year.”
In March Oasmia signed an agreement with Kazia Therapeutics to acquire exclusive global development and commercialization rights for Cantrixil.
Cantrixil consists of the active molecule, a potent and selective third generation benzopyran SMETI inhibitor named TRXE-002-01, encapsulated in a cyclodextrin. It is believed to target a wide spectrum of cancer cells, including chemotherapy-resistant tumor-initiating cells that are thought to be responsible for disease relapse.
For More Information:
Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB
Francois Martelet, Chief Executive Officer
Phone: +46 18-50 54 40
E-mail: IR@oasmia.com
Consilium Strategic Communications (For Oasmia)
Jonathan Birt, Chris Welsh, Ashley Tapp
Phone: +44 (0)20 3709 5700
E-mail: oasmia@consilium-comms.com
About Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB
Oasmia is a specialty pharma company dedicated to improving the lives of patients by enhancing the intravenous delivery of established and novel drugs in significant diseases, including cancer. Product development is based on Oasmia’s proprietary drug delivery platform which can be applied to medicines used in many therapeutic areas, to develop water soluble formulations of drugs that currently require chemical solubilizers for dissolution. The first product approved using this technology is Apealea® (paclitaxel micellar). Apealea has received market authorization in the European Union and several other territories for the treatment of first relapse in platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer, in combination with carboplatin. The Company is making Apealea accessible to patients through its partnership with Elevar Therapeutics, together with its existing commercial operations in the Nordic region. Oasmia’s shares are traded on the Nasdaq Stockholm stock exchange (ticker: OASM). To find out more about Oasmia please visit www.vivesto.com.