Patrys Ltd (ASX:PAB) is delighted that the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute (ONJCRI) has been awarded a $100,000 Victorian Medical Research Acceleration Fund (VMRAF) grant to support research into incorporating PAT-DX1 and PAT-DX3 into new metastatic breast cancer treatments.
The grant from the Victorian Government will support a research program between the Melbourne-based therapeutic antibody development company and ONJCRI to study the ability of PAT-DX1 and PAT-DX3, both cell-penetrating antibodies, to control tumour growth and metastasis in preclinical models of breast cancer.
The program will also evaluate the use of PATDX1 and PAT-DX3 in combination with DNA-damaging agents such as radiation and chemotherapy for treating animal models of human triple negative breast cancer (TNBC).
Gene regulation study
Professor Robin Anderson, head of ONJCRI’s Translational Breast Cancer Program and Metastasis Research Laboratory, will lead the research to understand the genetic regulation of metastasis, primarily in breast cancer. The study will identify new targets for molecular-based therapy for patients with progressive disease.
“We are very excited to be able to continue working on this novel and exciting approach for treating women with breast cancer. We know from the success of the PARP inhibitor drugs that DNA damage repair is the Achilles' heel for some cancers,” said Professor Anderson.
“We look forward to exploring if Patrys’ deoxymab antibodies are able to block DNA damage repair in breast cancer and could consequently provide a new therapeutic approach. We are extremely grateful to the Victorian Medical Research Acceleration Fund grant program for their support that will allow us to work with Patrys on this project.”
Patrys chief executive officer and managing director James Campbell said: “We are delighted that this VMRAF grant will allow us to expand our ongoing research program with Professor Anderson at the internationally-recognised ONJCRI. We have recently discovered that PAT-DX1 inhibits the formation of NETs, molecules that are implicated in the progression and metastasis of some cancers, and this new grant focused on metastatic breast cancer is an exciting addition to our programs.”
This is the second grant to support the development of PAT-DX1. In July 2020, Patrys and ONJCRI were awarded a $50,000 Federal Government grant through the Entrepreneur’s Program Innovation Connections scheme.