PharmAust (ASX:PAA), a clinical-stage oncology company, has announced the arrival of its GMP grade monepantel tablets with veterinarians and that it will now commence the phase 2 anti-cancer trial in dogs.
The company said the trial will formally determine activity in pet owners’ dogs with treatment naïve B cell lymphoma employing the new palatable and high dose tablet form of monepantel (MPL).
"This newly developed tablet was optimized in the first half of this year to enable the dosing of pet dogs by their owners and to produce a formulation that could be commercialized," said the company.
Lymphoma is one of the most common canine cancers and as such recruitment should be easier.
The company said the new palatable tablet will enable the studies to be of longer duration, permitting the determination of efficacy over prolonged periods. PharmAust said it plans to broaden the trial base to test for low dose maintenance of progression-free survival and efficacy in other cancers.
“PharmAust is excited to restart the canine trials formally testing the anti-cancer activity of monepantel in dogs with treatment naïve lymphoma. PharmAust is looking forward to updating shareholders with the outcomes from these trials as the data become available,” said PharmAust chief scientific officer Dr Richard Mollard.