Brought to you by COW AND BEAR
Murray Ward
While many cancer companies are spending billions trying to develop more powerful drugs, Melbourne-based Amplia Therapeutics is taking a different approach, developing “shield-breaking” treatments that make other multibillion-dollar drugs work better.
Following the main world meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago, where a new class of drugs known as “kRAS inhibitors” took center stage, Amplia’s chief executive officer Dr. Chris Burns made a compelling case for its flagship drug, narmafotinib, to play an important role in one of the new areas of cancer treatment.
The excitement followed the presentation of phase three data for a breakthrough drug called daraxonrasib, which showed improved survival rates in pancreatic cancer patients. The findings reinforced the idea that targeting the mutant kRAS protein, found in about 90 percent of pancreatic cancers, could slow disease progression.
However, discussions at ASCO made it clear these new agents are not the perfect answer on their own. Although promising, they are not curative, often involve serious side effects and can quickly become subject to treatment resistance. There is increasing recognition that the full potential of kRAS inhibition can be achieved through combination therapy.
And this is where Amplia believes it is well placed.
Pancreatic tumors are very difficult to treat because they surround themselves with a thick wall of scar-like tissue that acts as a biological barrier, preventing chemotherapy drugs from penetrating the cancer cell. Amplia’s drug, narmafotinib, is an inhibitor of a protein known as Focal Adhesion Kinase, or “FAK”, and is designed to break down that protective shield.
Early data show that narmafotinib can increase the effectiveness of kRAS inhibitors and can even uncoat the protein that protects cancer cells, thereby shutting down a key escape pathway that enables drug resistance.
Chief executive officer and managing director of Amplia Therapeutics Dr Chris Burns said: “Over the past two years, we have been building our understanding of the potential value of combining FAK and kRAS inhibitors… More recent results also show that narmafotinib can block known resistance pathways to these drugs. Importantly, clinical and clinical data from other FAK inhibitors continue to support this approach and strengthen our confidence in the opportunity.”
The company’s confidence is fueled by some impressive results from its ACCENT clinical trial in pancreatic cancer. An independent analysis of the study, which combined narmafotinib with standard chemotherapy, showed a median overall survival of 11.1 months — a solid two-month improvement over the 8.5 to 9.2 months typically seen with chemotherapy alone.
Perhaps most surprising was the complete response rate of the experiment. The study recorded five confirmed responses from 64 patients, a rate of 7.8 percent. For a malignancy like pancreatic cancer, where historical data on chemotherapy alone shows a complete response rate of just 0.2 percent, that figure is a real game-changer.
With more than 60 drugs targeting kRAS now in clinical development, a huge commercial opportunity is opening up. Narmafotinib could give drugmakers a way to improve patient outcomes and differentiate their products from the pack. The company says its business development division was at ASCO, meeting with several potential partners.
While the kRAS hybrid story is being built, Amplia is also continuing its pivotal Phase 2b trial of narmafotinib in pancreatic cancer. With the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies piling into the kRAS space, they may need a partner to make their drugs play. Amplia looks like it’s already on the dance floor.
Is your ASX listed company doing something interesting? Address: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
