On November 19, 2019 Moleculin Biotech, Inc., (Nasdaq: MBRX) ("Moleculin" or the "Company"), a clinical stage pharmaceutical company with a broad portfolio of drug candidates targeting highly resistant tumors, reported it now has preliminary data from its clinical trial of WP1220 for the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma ("CTCL"), which was published in Blood in conjunction with the American Society of Hematology (ASH) (Free ASH Whitepaper) Annual Meeting and Exposition to be held December 7-10, 2019 (Press release, Moleculin, NOV 19, 2019, View Source [SID1234551470]).
Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:
Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing
Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!
"For years, p-STAT3 (the activated form of STAT3) has been considered an ‘undruggable’ target because of the difficulty of reaching and affecting this cell-signaling protein," commented Walter Klemp, Moleculin’s Chairman and CEO. "Some consider it to be a master regulator of cancer-related gene transcription, so we believe the ability to show a therapeutic effect from a p-STAT3 inhibitor could be considered a significant breakthrough in cancer research."
Results: There were 6 patients screened, and 5 patients enrolled between March and July 2019. Three are evaluable for both safety and efficacy after completing 3 months of treatment, with 2 ongoing and evaluable for safety. The only AE reported potentially related to study drug in one of the five patients was a mild contact dermatitis not requiring treatment. CAILS scores on index lesions were significantly decreased in the first 3 patients, who were stages IA, IB, and IIB, respectively, at entry. A composite score was obtained for all treated lesions for each patient, and percent changes were calculated from baseline to Day 84. There was a median reduction of 70.8% (range 62.1%-76.2%) for the 3 patients. Improvement was noted as early as 7 days after initiation of treatment, and maintenance of improvement was also shown at follow up (1 month after discontinuation, as per protocol). The fourth patient has also shown an initial reduction in the composite CAILS score after 56 days (26.7%), and is continuing on treatment. Evaluations of the biopsy samples for histopathology and status of p-STAT3 in treated lesions are in progress.
Conclusions: WP1220, an inhibitor of p-STAT3, has shown demonstrable safety and significant efficacy after at least 3 months of topical treatment in 3 patients with progressive MF, with a continuing trend towards improvement in additional patients currently in treatment. This is the first demonstration that inhibition of the STAT3 activation pathway with topical therapy has impacted the course of this disease. The trial is continuing, and updated and more comprehensive data from this study as well as assessment of STAT3 phosphorylation in treated lesions will be reported.
Dr. Sandra Silberman, Chief Medical Officer for New Projects at Moleculin, added: "this is the first topical delivery of a p-STAT3 inhibitor that we know of for CTCL, where there is a significant unmet need for improved treatment of the lesions associated with this potentially deadly skin cancer. But, we believe the significance
of this data goes well beyond CTCL, as it speaks to the targeting of p-STAT3 as a general strategy. We are excited to share these preliminary results in association with ASH (Free ASH Whitepaper), especially because we believe showing activity here could have exciting implications for the future of STAT3 inhibitors in general. Although this is a relatively small pilot study, we believe the results justify an expansion to a larger patient population in a Phase 2 clinical trial."