QBiotics Group, a life sciences company developing novel anti-cancer and wound healing therapies, has announced the US FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) has approved its STELFONTA.
The approval makes STELFONTA the first FDA approved treatment for all grades of canine non-metastatic mast cell tumours.
It has already been approved by the European Medicines Agency, the UK's Veterinary Medicines Directorate and Swissmedic.
The FDA has approved STELFONTA (tigilanol tiglate injection) for the treatment of all non-metastatic cutaneous MCT and non-metastatic subcutaneous MCT, located at or distal to the elbow or the hock in dogs. MCTs are the most frequently diagnosed cancer in dogs, accounting for up to 21 per cent of skin cancer cases.
Dr Victoria Gordon, CEO and managing director of QBiotics, said, “FDA approval is a pivotal achievement for both STELFONTA and QBiotics. STELFONTA has the potential to be a category igniter – given it is easy to administer, provides 75% complete tumour resolution after just one injection, and dogs quickly regain pre-treatment quality of life. European sales of STELFONTA have been impressive, and we are excited to be working with Virbac to bring the drug to the US market to help treat the 3 million dogs there that each year are diagnosed with cancer.”
Dr Gordon continued, “This approval also provides strong validation of our highly efficient business model, where veterinary product sales provide repeatable revenue for the company, and the strong veterinary data underpins our human drug development programme. Clinical efficacy and safety responses reported in canine patients are also being mirrored in our human patients.
"In a Phase I/IIa human safety trial, tigilanol tiglate, the active ingredient in STELFONTA, demonstrated antitumour responses in a range of solid tumours. This included complete responses (where the tumour is completely destroyed) in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma. Notably, a maximum tolerated dose was not declared for this study. We are currently investigating the drug’s potential as both a monotherapy and an immune checkpoint inhibitor combination therapy through a series of Phase II clinical trials."