Sona Nanotech Inc (CSE:SONA, OTCQB:SNANF) announced that a follow-up preclinical study has confirmed the efficacy of its Targeted Hyperthermia Therapy (THT) in immunotherapy-resistant cancer.
The company’s THT utilizes Sona’s patented, biocompatible gold nanorods (GNRs) to target specific solid tumors, reducing their size and stimulating the immune system.
Building on preliminary results released in December, the follow-up study using the standard immunotherapy-resistant CT-26 colon cancer model found Sona's THT treatment to be 100% effective in triggering a robust immune system response.
In these trials, animals treated with a PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor, a typical immunotherapy, showed no benefit, with tumor growth similar to the control group.
However, in a new group of eight animals, treated first with Sona's THT and then with a PD-1 inhibitor, 100% of the animals responded, showing tumor growth nearly stopping in most cases,
'Powerful immunotherapy'
"In this study, Sona's THT cancer treatment is clearly the difference maker in inhibiting the growth of this notoriously difficult-to-treat cancer,” Sona chief medical officer Dr Carman Giacomantonio said in a statement.
“THT's ability to cause the expression of new antigens causes the immune system to engage, which we show permits immunotherapies to work better, making THT a powerful potential immunotherapy in its own right."
David Regan, Sona CEO, said that, while still an early preclinical study, the company was excited to see the repeatability of its earlier successful preclinical colorectal study results.
“This data gives us additional confidence as to THT's ability to enhance the response rates of immunotherapies used in humans, which we expect to be able to assess shortly in our first-in-human early feasibility study,” Regan said.