Melbourne-based therapeutic antibody development company Patrys (ASX:PAB) has announced the inventor of the Deoxymab technology platform, Dr James Hansen of the Yale School of Medicine, has been awarded a US$1.83 million (A$2.85 million) R01 research grant from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The company said the research grant, 'Targeting Glioblastoma with a Nuclear-Penetrating Anti-DNA Autoantibody', will support Dr Hansen’s work on the use of its PAT-DX1 and its nanoparticle conjugated form, PAT-DX1- NP, against glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).
This new research grant from the NIH follows the recent awarding of a US$50,000 (A$78,000) pilot grant from the Lion Heart Fund for Cancer Research and a US$1.25 million (A$1.95 million) research grant from the US Department of Defence (DoD) that fund Dr Hansen’s ongoing work to develop PAT-DX1 and PAT-DX1-NP for use against breast cancer brain metastases.
According to Patrys CEO and managing director, Dr James Campbell, “We congratulate Dr James Hansen and the team at the Yale School of Medicine in receiving these significant grants to fund further pre-clinical development of PAT-DX1 and PAT-DX1-NP, and are delighted that the Deoxymab platform technology, invented by Dr Hansen at Yale and licensed to Patrys, has been recognised for its potential to improve outcomes for patients with brain cancers and brain metastases – which are often highly aggressive and life-threatening.
"This new grant from the NIH brings the total of new funding from US agencies for Dr Hansen’s ongoing work with the Deoxymab platform to US$3.13m (A$4.87m) over the coming five years, and we look forward to working with Dr Hansen and the Yale School of Medicine to build on the strong foundations being laid in the field of DDR therapeutics.”
Patrys recently announced new preclinical data for PAT-DX1 and its nanoparticle conjugated form, PAT-DX1-NP, demonstrated the agents can cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB). It is estimated that approximately 98 per cent of current therapeutics are unable to cross the BBB to enter the brain to treat primary cancers and metastases.