Amplia Therapeutics Ltd (ASX:ATX)’s cancer drug AMP945 has been shown to improve the effectiveness of gemcitabine/Abraxane® in a model of human pancreatic cancer.
Researchers at the Garvan Institute have shown that AMP945 improves the effectiveness of the current standard of care in an animal model using human pancreatic cancer cells.
The addition of AMP945 pre-treatment to gemcitabine/Abraxane® chemotherapy regimen increased survival by 33%.
The confirmation in a second animal model further validates the rationale and design of a Phase 2 clinical trial of AMP945 in first line pancreatic cancer patients.
Phase 2 clinical trial
Amplia CEO John Lambert said: “Working with our collaborators at the Garvan, we have shown that AMP945 can improve the current standard of care in a second model of pancreatic cancer and provide further validation of the approach we will use in our Phase 2 clinical trial that is expected to start early in the second quarter.
“These data are particularly compelling as AMP945 has been used to treat tumours that have formed from human pancreatic cancer cells.
“Aside from actually running the clinical trial, this is the most compelling translational evidence we could have to support the approach we are taking.”
Likely superior to other FAK inhibitors
Professor Paul Timpson of the Garvan Institute said: “We have run this model on several occasions using different FAK inhibitors and now with AMP945.
“This result clearly shows that AMP945 increases survival in this model and is likely superior to other FAK inhibitors we have tested.”
Study results
In the study, cancer cells derived from a human pancreas cancer were transplanted into the pancreas of laboratory mice (the TKCC-10-LO* orthotopic model).
Once pancreatic tumours were established, mice were treated either with gemcitabine/Abraxane® or AMP945 in combination with gemcitabine/Abraxane®.
When intermittent oral doses of Amplia’s AMP945 were added to gemcitabine/Abraxane®, survival increased by 33% compared to gemcitabine/Abraxane® alone.
Previously, Amplia reported that the addition of a pre-treatment with AMP945 to a regimen of the standard chemotherapy drugs gemcitabine/Abraxane® resulted in a 27% improvement in survival in the aggressive KPC mouse model of pancreatic cancer.
Median survival time
In the experiment, the median survival time of untreated mice was 68 days, while mice treated with gemcitabine/Abraxane® alone exhibited a median survival time of 122 days.
Mice treated with a combination of AMP945 and gemcitabine/Abraxane® had a median survival time of 163 days, representing a statistically significant 33% increase in median survival (P ≤ 0.05), relative to gemcitabine/Abraxane® alone.