Patrys (ASX:PAB) is very good at curing mice of brain cancer, with the latest results saying its drug stops it spreading in rodents.

A Yale School of Medicine study into PAT-DX1 found that not only did it slow the growth of triple-negative breast cancer brain metastases, but also meant patients didn’t need as much of the drug.

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Patrys shares rose 41 per cent to 1.1c on the news.

Triple-negative breast cancer is a type of cancer that does not have any of the three receptors commonly found on breast cancer cells – the oestrogen, progesterone and HER2 receptors — and makes up about 15 per cent of all breast cancers.

‘Brain metastases’ are when cancer cells in other parts of the body — in this case, the breast — spread.

Patrys’ drug concept is to make a drug that can treat brain cancers by crossing the blood-brain barrier, generally an extremely tricky thing to do.

PAT-DX1 is an antibody — a protein produced mainly by plasma cells used by the immune system to neutralise pathogens — that instead of binding proteins on the surface of cells, is taken into the cells and binds to the DNA where the pathogen is interfering with DNA repair.

Patry’s main objective is glioblastoma, a nasty form of brain cancer that is very difficult to treat. US Senator John McCain died last year from the disease.

The company is currently still conducting animal experiments in mice, however, and is yet to start human clinical trials.

Patrys CEO James Campbell says they expect to start clinical trials by the end of 2020 or the start of 2021.

The other ASX biotech news worth reading today:

ResApp (ASX:RAP) says Avanti Med in the UK is going to develop wearable devices that can use its cough-diagnosing algorithm, for which they hope to have CE Mark approval next year. The algorithm usually runs on a phone app.

ResApp has been rebuilding after a disastrous trial in 2017 and spent all of 2018 redoing said trial. The redo disappointed investors but CEO Tony Keating fired back saying they didn’t fully understand the results.

The company has filed its submission for FDA approval for the algorithm, and is still waiting on European approval for an application filed in January.

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