PharmaDrug Inc (CSE:BUZZ) (OTCPINK:LMLLF) reported promising initial results from its study looking at using cepharanthine to treat cancer.
Cepharanthine is a natural product that is shown to exhibit multiple pharmacological properties – including anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, immuno-regulatory, anti-cancer, anti-viral and anti-parasitic properties.
Toronto-based PharmaDrug said that results showed a “marked response” to cepharanthine from cancer cell lines compared to the current standard of care.
READ: PharmaDrug advances product and clinical development of cepharanthine to treat infectious diseases including coronavirus
The study examines a panel of 60 solid and liquid cancer cell types, comparing the cell growth inhibition. Data from 35 of the 60 cancer cell lines were reported to PharmaDrug, with 11 cancer cell lines showing the heightened response.
As a result, PharmaDrug said it plans to “quickly” initiate another in vitro efficacy study to look at the potential of cepharanthine to provide other benefits in combination with the current standard of care and file a provisional patent. The firm also plans on using the findings to start parallel tumour efficacy studies in gold standard and animal models, clearing a path to decide on a lead cancer indication for development.
"We are extremely excited with the results of this study demonstrating the potential of cepharanthine in treating multiple forms of cancer known to commonly escape response through the development of chemoresistance,” PharmaDrug CEO Daniel Cohen said in a statement.
“Although cepharanthine is described in scientific literature as a potential cancer therapeutic, we did not expect to see the noted significant growth inhibition in difficult to treat cancers. Cepharanthine is on its way to establishing itself as a once per day, oral anti-cancer therapeutic with a well-established safety profile, which will pave the way for an expedited clinical development pathway and future partnering opportunities with pharmaceutical companies.”
PharmaDrug said it expects to receive results from the 25 remaining cancer cell lines within the next two weeks.
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