Percheron Therapeutics Ltd (ASX:PER, OTC:PERCF) progressed preparations for a planned phase II clinical trial of HMBD-002, its lead oncology program, during the March quarter, supported by a $2.2 million entitlement offer completed after the period end.
The funds are to be used to advance development of HMBD-002, a monoclonal antibody targeting the immune checkpoint regulator VISTA, with the trial planned for the second half of CY2026.
Percheron chief executive officer Dr James Garner said the company had focused since the start of the year on developing the phase II trial design into a detailed protocol, while also seeking bids from international contract research organisations to conduct the study.
“Our focus since the beginning of the year has been on preparation for the planned phase II clinical trial of HMBD-002. We have invested significant work in developing the clinical trial design into a detailed protocol. Our licensor has commenced manufacture of a new batch of drug substance for use in the trial, which was a provision of the license agreement we executed with them last year. We have solicited bids from several international contract research organisations to conduct the study, and we expect to make a final decision on the chosen partner in the near future.
"Meanwhile, we are excited to have had the opportunity to share positive data from the phase I study of HMBD-002 at ASCO, and we look forward to seeing interesting new preclinical data from our collaboration with QIMR shared at the ASCO conference in late May.”
Clinical and manufacturing milestones support trial pathway
During the quarter, Percheron secured acceptance of HMBD-002 abstracts for 2 major oncology conferences — the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting in April and the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in May-June.
The AACR presentation covers results from the completed phase I study of HMBD-002 in 48 patients with advanced cancer across 6 US cancer centres. The study showed the drug was generally safe and well tolerated, both as a monotherapy and in combination with Keytruda, with some patients showing signs of potential clinical benefit.
A separate ASCO abstract stems from Percheron’s collaboration with QIMR Berghofer in Brisbane, which began in the second half of CY2025 to investigate the biological activity of HMBD-002 and identify possible biomarkers for future clinical trials.
Percheron also reported that licensor Hummingbird Bioscience had begun manufacturing a new batch of drug substance for clinical trial use. Hummingbird is responsible for the manufacture under the June 2025 licence agreement, with final testing and release expected in June 2026 and vial filling due for completion in August 2026.
The company ended the March quarter with $3.10 million in cash, compared with $4.46 million at the end of the previous quarter. This figure excludes the post-quarter entitlement offer proceeds. Net operating cash outflow for the quarter was $1.36 million, including $700,000 in research and development expenditure.