Evgen Pharma PLC (AIM:EVG) has announced a new collaboration with professor Francesco Marampon at Università Sapienza di Roma (La Sapienza) in which they will together investigate potential radiosensitisation effects of Evgen's lead asset, SFX-01.
The aim of radiosensitisation is to make tumour cells more sensitive to radiation therapy and through this, to improve effectiveness, the company noted.
"This new collaboration with Prof. Marampon's group aims to gain further insights into the striking effects seen with SFX-01 in combination with radiotherapy,” said Evgen chief executive Dr Huw Jones.
“If radiosensitisation is a feature of SFX-01, this could be an important step forward in the treatment of cancers requiring radiotherapy. This will be our 14th academic collaboration and is part of our ongoing strategy to add to the broad dataset already in place of SFX-01's mode of action and safety features."
Marampon, meanwhile, added: "Based on previous promising data with SFX-01, we will be looking to understand the effects of SFX-01 as a potential radiosensitiser for cancer patients. The ultimate aim is to improve the impact of radiotherapy and facilitate recovery."
Evgen’s SFX-01 is described as a patented composition of synthetic sulforaphane and alpha-cyclodextrin. In previous studies it has shown an increase in sensitivity of cancer cells to radiotherapy, observed in both in vitro and in vivo models.
The new collaboration with La Sapienza will see SFX-01’s radiosensitisation effects in a different tumour type and provide further insights into its mechanism of action, Evgen noted.
It added that in vitro experiments will investigate the ability of SFX-01 to increase the sensitivity of cells to radiotherapy and allow the use of lower radiation doses. Factors that will be investigated include the inhibitory effects of SFX-01 on cell metabolism, focusing on proliferation, cell cycle distribution and induction of death.