Clinical stage oncology company Prescient Therapeutics to progress its deep pipeline of innovative cancer therapies with capital raise.

The company is looking to raise $8 million in funds via a Share Purchase Plan at $0.175 per share to maintain momentum on its considerable impressive cancer pipeline.

Prescient Therapeutics (ASX:PTX) is active in CAR-T therapy, an area widely expected to see cancer care move from ‘treatment’ to ‘personalised cure’. The company is developing three in-house CAR-T therapies and two platform technologies capable of making next-generation CAR-T therapies safer, controllable, targeted and cost-efficient.

Prescient is also progressing clinical trials in two targeted therapies, PTX-100 and PTX-200, which are treating cancers of considerable unmet need.

Last month, the US FDA granted an Orphan Drug Designation to PTX-100 for the treatment of peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCL).

The Orphan Designation is used by the FDA to provide favourable status to certain drugs which show promise in the treatment of rare diseases, which will enjoy benefits including guaranteed market exclusivity for seven years once launched.

“The past couple of years in particular have been a period of incredible growth and progress for Prescient, and the company is seeking to maintain this momentum and its position at the forefront of oncology innovation,” said Prescient CEO, Steven Yatomi-Clarke.

Prescient’s pipeline

Prescient has a broad pipeline of personalised cancer treatments, comprising CAR-T and targeted therapies spanning a range of different cancers.

At the heart of Prescient’s assets are two platform cell technologies – OmniCAR and CellPryme – that address current-generation CAR-T challenges, thereby creating next-generation CAR-T therapies that are safer, controllable, targeted and cost-efficient.

Both platforms, along with the company’s inhouse cancer therapies, have been developed by or with world-leading cancer research institutions, such as Oxford, UPenn and Peter Mac, with IP rights exclusively owned by Prescient.

Targeted Therapies

The PTX-100 Phase 1B safety study has exhibited a favourable safety profile in PTCL cancer, as demonstrated by encouraging efficacy signals, including one PTCL patient with a durable response that is still on therapy after 28 months. An expansion cohort in TCL is on track to fully recruit this year, led by globally-renowned lymphoma expert Professor Miles Prince.

PTX-100 compares favourably to other therapies which are typically characterised by high occurrence of serious toxicities. For example, they have low response rates (<30%) and short duration of responses (3-4 months).

PTX-100 disrupts oncogenic Ras pathways by inhibiting the activation of Rho, Rac and Ral circuits in cancer cells, leading to apoptosis (death) of cancer cells.

PTX-200, on the other hand, is a Phase 1b/2a clinical candidate.

PTX-200 is a novel PH domain inhibitor that inhibits an important tumor survival pathway known as Akt, which plays a key role in the development of many cancers, including breast and ovarian cancer, as well as leukemia.

Unlike other drug candidates that target Akt inhibition which are non-specific kinase inhibitors that have toxicity problems, PTX-200 has a novel mechanism of action that specifically inhibits Akt whilst being comparatively safer.

Cell Therapies

Prescient’s OmniCAR cell therapy platform ­is a flexible, modular platform which aims to make CAR-T therapies safer, cheaper and more effective. The platform employs technologies licensed from UPenn and Oxford University and will allow unprecedented control and flexibility over current generation CAR-T approaches.

The company is developing next-generation CAR-T therapies on the OmniCAR platform for Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), Her2+ solid tumours including breast, ovarian and gastric cancers, and glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).

In June, Prescient unveiled its novel, ready-for-the-clinic, CellPryme-M technology, which complements the OmniCAR platform and enhances adoptive cell therapy performance by shifting T cells towards a more “youthful” central memory phenotype, improving persistence, and increasing the ability to find and penetrate tumours.

Earlier in the week, Prescient also announced it had entered a manufacturing services deal with specialist cell therapy manufacturer, Q-Gen Cell Therapeutics (Q-Gen), to produce its OmniCAR T-cells for upcoming clinical trials.

What’s next for shareholders

Under the SPP, new fully paid ordinary shares will be issued at $0.175 per share, equivalent to a 14.6% discount to the volume weighted average price (VWAP) over the five trading days preceding August 23rd.

Funds raised will be used to progress the company’s diverse and innovative pipeline of innovative caner therapies as well as for general working capital and costs of the offer.

As per current rules, Prescient will open the SPP to existing shareholders for up to $30,000 of new fully paid ordinary shares.

“The Prescient Board acknowledges, values and thanks shareholders for their continued support of the company,” said Yatomi-Clarke.

“We are pleased to provide our shareholders with the opportunity to participate in this SPP by purchasing additional shares at a modestly discounted price, without incurring brokerage or transaction costs.”

This article was developed in collaboration with Prescient Therapeutics, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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