Amplia Therapeutics (ASX:ATX) has announced important new data from its ongoing ACCENT clinical trial in pancreatic cancer.
The trial is investigating the company’s FAK inhibitor narmafotinib in combination with standard-of-care chemotherapies, gemcitabine and Abraxane, in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.
A patient from the trial has now achieved a pathological complete response (pCR), an extremely rare observation in this patient population, according to the company.
"During routine assessment of tumour burden for the patient in question, it was noted that there had been a significant reduction in the size and number of hepatic metastases (secondary tumours in the liver) and in the primary tumour in the pancreas," it said.
The medical team decided that this enabled them to change the treatment plan for this patient, and surgery was performed to remove both the secondary tumours in the liver and the primary tumour in the pancreas. The surgically removed lesions were subjected to pathological examination and were determined to contain no live tumour tissue.
This outcome is classified as a pCR. A pCR is very rarely reported in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, where the disease has spread to other organs in the body. In patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer, however, around 5 per cent of patients do record a pCR in response to treatment with neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
Amplia CEO and managing director Dr Chris Burns said, “We are extremely excited to learn that a patient from our study has achieved a pathological complete response. This is wonderful news for the patient and the clinical team involved. We firmly believe this outcome further demonstrates the promising activity narmafotinib, on top of standard-of-care, is showing in the treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer.”