Patrys Ltd’s (ASX:PAB) shares closed about 15% higher on Thursday at 3 cents after its drug candidate PAT-DX1 showed promising activity in suppressing breast cancer brain metastases in a mouse model.
Brain metastases develop in up to 50% of patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), and they have devastating effects on neurologic function and survival.
PAT-DX1 administered by tail vein injection significantly improved survival in a mouse model of TNBC brain metastases.
Brain metastases were generated by injection of brain-seeking TNBC cells directly into circulation via intracardiac injection.
One week later, the presence of brain metastases was confirmed and intravenous treatment with PAT-DX1 was initiated.
The ability of PAT-DX1 to reduce TNBC brain metastases was seen after just one week of treatment.
After four weeks of treatment with PAT-DX1, treated mice showed 93% less brain metastasis than untreated mice, quantified by luminescence intensity.
PAT-DX1 also significantly improved survival, with 86% of the mice treated with PAT-DX1 still alive after all control mice had died. No toxicity associated with PAT-DX1 treatment was observed.
Assets in development
Drs. James Hansen and Jiangbing Zhou of the Yale School of Medicine conducted this pre-clinical trial.
Patrys chief executive officer and managing director Dr James Campbell said: “Drs. Hansen and Zhou at Yale are leading the efforts to use PAT-DX1 against malignancies of the brain, and they previously showed that PAT-DX1 crosses the blood-brain barrier to suppress GBM tumors.
“Their new demonstration of PAT-DX1 single agent activity against TNBC brain metastases has important implications for the potential applications of PAT-DX1 in the treatment of a wide range of brain tumors.”