Major milestones Prescient Therapeutics (ASX:PTX) eyes in 2023

Highlights

• Prescient intends to modify the study protocol for enrolling additional CTCL patients for the clinical trial of PTX-100
• Ongoing development of OmniCAR platform, towards clinical trials
• CellPryme-M can seamlessly integrate into third-party manufacturing protocols and offer an attractive option for improving existing suboptimal CAR-T products
• CellPryme-A offers multiple development prospects with new scalable platform opportunities for PTX

Clinical-stage oncology firm Prescient Therapeutics (ASX:PTX) is guided by its mission to develop novel, personalised therapies for multiple types of cancers. The company’s platform consists of targeted and cellular therapies at different levels of clinical development.

© 2023 Krish Capital Pty. Ltd., Data source: Company Update

© 2023 Krish Capital Pty. Ltd., Data source: Company Update

Amid the challenging operating environment, Prescient ended 2022 with major achievements on several important fronts concerning its targeted and cellular therapies. In 2023, the company plans to continue to progress the development of programs across its considerable pipeline.

Read out on TCL of PTX-100 trial and next steps for clinical development

In the latest update on PTX-100, Prescient reported that PTX-100 continued to establish positive clinical activity in a difficult-to-treat patient population. It also observed a remarkable response in a patient with refractory cutaneous TCL (CTCL). Professor H. Miles Prince, a world-renowned haematologist, is leading the study.

The road ahead: The encouraging results, particularly in CTCL, have led Prescient to modify the study protocol to assist in enrolling additional CTCL patients.

Despite the new goal of recruiting additional CTCL patients, the recruitment has been on schedule. The company plans to expand the study period and the study will remain open while patients derive clinical advantages from PTX-100.

Initiation of OmniCAR AML clinical study

In 2023, Prescient plans to advance the development of its next-generation OmniCAR programs. The target indications will be Her2 positive solid cancers, acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and glioblastoma multiforme. Further, it will likely be the first OmniCAR program to enter clinical studies, given the motivating progress of the OmniCAR AML program, the company update highlights.

In August 2022, Prescient executed a manufacturing services agreement with Q-Gen Cell Therapeutics. Q-Gen is a specialist cell therapy manufacturer, and under the deal, it will produce OmniCAR cell lines for upcoming clinical trials. It has started initial trial works.

Leveraging CellPryme and OmniCAR 

CellPryme-M has demonstrated greater persistence with 50% more central memory cells than conventional CAR-T. It doubled the proportion of helper T-cells and retained the potency of cytotoxic T-cells. Further, it has better trafficking to the tumour site with nearly double CAR-T tumour control and a significant increment in survival.

CellPryme-M holds the potential to effortlessly incorporate into third-party production protocols. It offers an appealing option for enhancing current CAR-T therapies, says the company.

CellPryme-A was found in pre-clinical studies to improve tumour killing and host survival of conventional CAR-T cells. It lowers problematic Treg cells by 66% and enhances the potential of T cells to penetrate solid tumours. It has demonstrated improved survival and dramatically increased CAR-T cell expansion within the host. Further, it synergises with CellPryme-M for even greater benefits.

The company highlights that CellPryme-A is ready for clinical testing as an adjuvant/neoadjuvant therapy. It also presents multiple development prospects with new scalable platform opportunities for PTX.

© 2023 Krish Capital Pty. Ltd., Data and image source: Company Update

The factors discussed above are few of the notable catalysts that the company plans to work towards in 2023 and beyond. Moreover, the company intends to build awareness of its programs as they progress, amongst industry, institutions, clinicians, and investors.

PTX shares traded at AU$0.130 on 16 January 2023.