Theralase Technologies Inc (TSX-V:TLT, OTCQB:TLTFF) announced that its lead drug formulation Rutherrin was able to repurpose non-cancer drugs for cancer therapy in preclinical research.
The company, which is developing light and/or radiation-activated small molecule compounds, their associated drug formulations and the light systems that activate them, highlighted there is growing interest in repurposing drugs that have established safety, pharmacokinetics and efficacy and repurposing them for cancer to reduce the cost and time taken to bring therapies to market.
It said Rutherrin was able to accomplish this with various drugs by “significantly” enhancing their efficacy in the destruction of cancer cells and repurposing their use in the treatment of multiple cancer indications.
The drugs enhanced by Rutherrin were Withaferin A, a steroid primarily used as an anti-inflammatory drug to combat cancer-associated inflammation; Amiodarone, an anti-arrhythmic medication used to treat and prevent specific types of cardiac dysrhythmias; and Metformin, a widely prescribed medicine for type 2 diabetes.
Cells were treated with 3 µM Rutherrin before the addition of these drugs to analyze cell survival.
Theralase reported that Rutherrin significantly increased the cancer cell kill for all tested non-cancer drugs, without light and/or radiation activation, suggesting that it could be combined with these drugs to repurpose them for cancer treatment.
“The scientific and clinical rational for this repurposing approach lies in the fact that different diseases share common molecular pathways and targets in the cell,” Theralase chief scientific officer Dr Arkady Mandel explained.
“We are excited by the results of our latest research, suggesting that there are a large number of existing non-cancer drugs that can be repurposed for cancer treatment, beyond, what we have initially analyzed, but also that Rutherrin can significantly increase their efficacy in the targeted killing of cancer cells.”
Theralase CEO Roger DuMoulin-White noted that initiatives to repurpose existing drugs have stemmed from the multi-billion cost and decades taken to research, develop and gain approval for a new drug.
“The drug development process has led to significant clinical advances, but the entire process is tedious, time-consuming and extremely expensive; therefore, exploring established non-cancer drugs for anti-cancer activity provides a cost and time-efficient, de-risked opportunity to rapidly advance therapeutic strategies into clinical studies and commercialization,” he said.
Theralase shares traded higher on the update, gaining 3.5% to US$0.15 pre-market.