Patrys Ltd (ASX:PAB) has established a high-yielding, stable cell line ahead of schedule to support production on its PAT-DX3 drug candidate.
The healthcare stock, which develops therapeutic antibodies that can combat cancerous cells, now plans to kickstart a process development program to manufacture Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)-grade PAT-DX3 deoxymab on a commercial scale.
Looking ahead, there’s potential for PAT-DX3 to be used as both a therapeutic and targeting agent in antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), which opens up several potential development and partnering opportunities.
Moving to commercial-scale production
Speaking to the achievement, Patrys CEO and managing director Dr James Campbell said: “We are delighted to have identified a high-yielding stable cell line for the production of PAT-DX3 significantly ahead of schedule.
“There is a lot of interest in PAT-DX3 both as a therapeutic agent in its own right and for the intracellular delivery of therapeutic payloads into brain and other cells.
“With this key reagent now identified and in hand, we can rapidly move into developing a commercial-scale production process to support both the clinical and partnering opportunities we have for PAT-DX3.
“Most of the therapeutic antibodies in the market today are full-sized immunoglobin G (IgG) antibodies, which should provide a rich experience base for facilitating the development of a process for the large scale production of clinical-grade PAT-DX3 deoxymab.”
Patry’s new cell line will be stored as a master cell bank, which will form the basis for all future production of PAT-DX3.
Shares have been as much as 22% higher in the first hour of trading to $A0.028.
About PAT-DX3
Patrys has developed two humanised forms of deoxymab 3E10, an antibody that has been proven to kill cancerous cells while having little effect on the body’s normal cells.
Notably, the company’s two formulations — PAT-DX1 and PAT-DX3 — both show improved activity over the original antibody, and Patrys believes that PATDX1 could help combat a wide range of cancers, including gliomas, melanomas, prostate, breast, pancreatic and ovarian cancers.
Studies conducted to date have shown that PAT-DX3 is able to cross the blood brain barrier in animal models of brain cancer and penetrate cancer cells.
In fact, PAT-DX3 appears to have a higher affinity for DNA than PAT-DX1, suggesting that it has the potential to be more efficacious.
In addition, Patrys has reported that PAT-DX3 was able to be used as a targeting agent to successfully deliver an anticancer drug in an animal model of human breast cancer.
In view of this potential, the company is actively exploring partnering opportunities for PAT-DX3 to be used in ADCs for the targeted, intracellular delivery of cancer drugs and a range of other payloads, such as nucleic acids.