The preliminary results of the clinical trial involving AstraZeneca's AZD0466 and the drug delivery platform developed by Australian company Starpharma (ASX:SPL) have been presented at the 2022 American Society of Hematology annual meeting.
The Phase 1/2 found that AZD0466, which is a dual Bcl-2/xL inhibitor, is well tolerated in patients with advanced haematological malignancies, with no dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs) reported to date.
AZD0466 is a highly optimised dendrimer nanoparticle formulation of an AstraZeneca drug that utilises Starpharma’s DEP technology. AstraZeneca is developing the candidate under its multi-product license with Starpharma.
DEP enhances the therapeutic properties of drugs to improve solubility, efficacy, pharmacokinetics, targeting, and reduce specific toxicities.
Starpharma has developed three clinical-stage products using the DEP technology, which is also the subject of multiple partnerships with biopharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca, MSD, Genentech, and Chase Sun.
Starpharma CEO Dr Jackie Fairley said, “We are delighted to see these AZD0466 clinical trial results presented for the first time at the ASH meeting in New Orleans. AZD0466 is the result of a highly successful collaboration between AstraZeneca and Starpharma and the presentation of this trial data marks an important milestone in the development of AZD0466. This positive clinical data further validates the potential of Starpharma’s DEP technology in a fourth clinical-stage oncology product.”
AZD0466 is the first candidate under Starpharma’s multi-product license with AstraZeneca. Starpharma is eligible to receive development, launch and sales milestones, and royalties. To date, Starpharma has received US$7 million in milestones for AZD0466, with the potential to receive milestones of up to US$124 million, plus royalties.