Roquefort Therapeutics PLC (LSE:ROQ) said the latest lab results underpin the potential of its drug programme to produce first-in-class medicines targeting the hard-to-treat cancers that express midkine.
Midkine is a heparin-binding growth factor, which, when over-expressed, is linked with a whole host of ailments including cancer, inflammation, and autoimmune diseases.
The latest research showed that Roquefort’s antisense oligonucleotides (used for gene silencing) successfully reduced high midkine (MDK) levels in cancer cells by generating a truncated form of the protein.
The switch to the truncated MDK was consistent with the greater than 90% efficacy detected at the messenger RNA (mRNA) level by scientists at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia, as outlined in a previous update.
"These positive results demonstrate the pre-clinical proof of principle in cancer for our innovative antisense oligonucleotide drug development programme and underpin the potential for a first-class medicine in the highly valuable solid tumour cancer market,” said Roquefort chairman Stephen West.
The plan now is to move from lab testing to in vivo or animal testing before progressing to a first-in-human trial.
In the same announcement, investors were told the company has recently updated its patent estate in Australia and has also filed for patents protecting the composition of its truncated MDK, mRNAs and antisense oligonucleotides.
Finally, ahead of the soon-to-be-completed acquisition of Oncogeni, the group has begun to use the new business’ lab facilities in Stratford Upon Avon.