EpiAxis Therapeutics has announced the results of its clinical trial EPI-PRIMED - the first time that an epigenetic inhibitor has been used in combination with chemotherapy to treat metastatic cancer.
The company said the purpose of the trial was to investigate the safety of the combination nab-paclitaxel and an irreversible LSD1 inhibitor in patients with metastatic breast cancer (mBC).
Women with inoperable or metastatic breast cancer from three Australian facilities participated in the trial. - Canberra Region Cancer Centre, Southern Medical Day Care Centre and Liverpool Hospital.
The results of this trial have been published in the cancer journal 'Frontiers of Oncology'.
CEO Jeremy Chrisp said the results provide proof of concept for the company’s current drug development program for its first-in-class therapies to inhibit nuclear LSD1.
EpiAxis said it was pleased to note the biomarker results indicate that inhibition of LSD1 was associated with phenotypic change away from an aggressive phenotype in cancer cells.
“The publication of this study is the culmination of several years’ work and the results are important for both patients and the company, as we have demonstrated that nuclear inhibition of LSD1 is possible and results in cell reprogramming,” said Dr Chrisp.
“This indicates that we are on the right track to progress our novel first-in-class candidates to a new clinical trial. We would like to thank the staff and patients of the three sites that participated, as well as EpiAxis Therapeutics founding scientist Professor Sudha Rao. We look forward to sharing the immune data from the study in the near future.”
The company is currently working with The Sage Group to raise US$12 million to advance a candidate into an IND-enabled program.