Radiopharm (ASX:RAD) hails release of DUNP19 cancer study in prestigious scientific journal

Highlights

• The prominent scientific journal ‘Nature’ has published an authoritative analysis of the role of LRRC15 in cancer growth.
• The article highlights that LRRC15 proteins on cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) protect tumour cells from the immune system.
• Radiopharm intends to reproduce this work in the clinic with a monoclonal antibody against LRRC15.

Radiopharm Theranostics (ASX:RAD) has released a significant market update concerning its LRRC15 antibody, DUNP19.

The company reported that the reputed journal ‘Nature’ published an authoritative analysis of the role of LRRC15 in cancer growth by Dr. Shannon J. Turley and her team of over 30 scientists on 28 September 2022.

The new data substantially reinforces the already strong evaluations of LRRC15 as a biomarker for aggressive malignancies.

In April this year, Radiopharm signed an exclusive licensing agreement with the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Technology Development Group (UCLA-TDG) for the promising antibody DUNP19. Further, in September, Radiopharm secured the Orphan Drug Designation for DUNP19 technology to treat ‘osteosarcoma’, a rare bone cancer.

New data on LRRC15 role in multiple cancers

The research team of Turley explained that the LRRC15 proteins on cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are vital for protecting tumour cells from the immune system. These are thus important for allowing the growth of tumours.

Using their recently developed elegant knock-out mouse model, the team lowered the expression of the LRRC15 protein in aggressive tumour cells.

Radiopharm to use this data for DUNP19 clinical study

Radiopharm intends to reproduce their work in the clinic with a monoclonal antibody against LRRC15.

Developed by H. David Ulmert, MD, PhD, and colleagues, the antibody, known as “DUNP19”, will be labelled with a high-energy radioactive isotope.

Radiolabelled DUNP19 (RAD 502) is expected to show the direct killing activity of tumour cells as well as the neighbouring cells in the tumour microenvironment (TME) that safeguards the cancer cells from attack by the immune system.

Stock information - RAD shares were trading at AU$0.180 midday on 7 October 2022, up more than 9% from the last close.