oktober 25, 2023

Ectin Research AB strengthens and expands its preclinical portfolio with additional application areas for MFA-370

Ectin Research AB (”Ectin” or the ”Company”) today announces that its preclinical efforts through contract research have both strengthened and expanded the Company’s indications for MFA-370. The aim was to investigate in different experimental models whether Ectin’s combination therapy MFA-370 could be used in the treatment of additional cancer indications. The new preclinical studies strengthen previous research for the treatment of metastatic urothelial bladder cancer (mUBC) with MFA-370, as well as suggesting that triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) and the orphan disease uveal melanoma (UM) could also be treated with MFA-370.

Ectin has previously shown in preclinical studies that MFA-370 has antiproliferative (growth inhibiting) effects and induces specific cancer cell death in experimental models with urothelial bladder cancer cells as well as breast, colon and prostate cancer cells. In addition, previous preliminary preclinical results have shown that MFA-370 reduces the adhesion of tumour cells to the peritoneal surface. Together with several different contract research organisations both in Sweden and abroad, Ectin has now conducted a number of preclinical studies to deepen the knowledge of MFA-370’s effect on already identified cancer types as well as to investigate new potential therapeutic areas for MFA-370. For example, preclinical studies have been performed on cancer cells isolated from a patient with urothelial bladder cancer, organoids, where the Company could clearly distinguish an anti-proliferative effect of MFA-370 treatment on the cancer cells. The Company has thus strengthened and deepened previous preclinical data in mUBC. In addition to these preclinical studies, the Company has also obtained promising growth inhibition results for the treatment of cancer cells from the cancer subtype TNBC as well as from the rare disease UM.

TNBC is a collective name for breast cancers where the tumour cells lack three types of cell surface receptors. This type of breast cancer is therefore not sensitive to hormones, which means that it cannot be treated in the same way as other breast cancers and has a poorer prognosis. TNBC is currently treated with surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and other medical treatments. The majority of TNBC patients have a relatively good prognosis, but to increase the chances of survival it is important to identify the disease before it spreads, often via the lymph nodes. The development of new treatment for TNBC is a research-intensive area where the Company sees that MFA-370, for example, could be interesting to combine with other drugs under development.

UM is the most common form of malignant melanoma in the uveal layer of the eye. The disease is treated by radiating the tumour or, in some cases, removing the eye. Unfortunately, about 50% of patients relapse and metastasise, often with liver metastases. In the case of metastasis, very few patients survive as only a few cancer therapies are approved and these have extremely limited treatment effect, which means that patient survival has not been significantly improved for several decades. The company now plans to seek partners within this indication to deepen its research in the disease area.