It’s an exciting time for Race Oncology investors as the company appoints a new CEO and presses forward on multiple programs.

Race Oncology (ASX:RAC) is making headway in exploring lead drug Zantrene as a potential therapy candidate to treat a wide range of cancers.

Pre-clinical and clinical trials on Zantrene are concurrently underway; and with clear opportunities ahead, a new experienced leader has been brought in to steer the company through its next stage of growth.

Earlier this month, Race brought on board new CEO and Managing Director Damian Clarke-Bruce, a seasoned executive with deep global experience in drug commercialisation and portfolio strategy.

Clarke-Bruce has held executive roles, both in Australia, Europe and the US, at all stages of the drug development process from pre-clinical evaluation all the way to successful commercial launch.

Speaking to Stockhead, Clarke-Bruce said his time in his international-based roles  has given him a deep understanding of how to bring a product from the clinic to the market.

“I’ve had the opportunity to do that on a big scale with Big Pharma across multiple regions, and more recently in the US at Pharming in the ultra-rare disease space,” said Clarke-Bruce.

“And now at Race, I’m seeing a huge opportunity to bring our first asset to the market, while working with a passionate and skilled team of people.”

Race’s next stage of growth

The arrival of Clarke-Bruce has indeed signalled to the market that Race is looking past the clinic.

Over the last couple of years, the company has already made huge leaps forward on Zantrene.

For example, Race had demonstrated in the pre-clinic that Zantrene could protect heart muscle cells from anthracycline-induced cell death in people receiving chemotherapy.

While anthracyclines are one of the most effective anti-cancer treatments ever developed, they can cause both acute and long-term damage to the heart.

“Race is at the point now where we can frame our clinical story, and start having those discussions with candidates that are looking for early partnering and potential licensing,” said Clarke-Bruce.

He believes that his extensive network across Europe, Asia and the US could be utilised to attract those potential partners and investors.

“I’m heading out to the US in a couple of weeks, following our planned approach around exploring potential partnering opportunities.”

Multiple opportunities

The opportunities for Zantrene are numerous and in the pre-clinical program, Race is developing a number of pipelines including breast cancer, kidney cancer, multiple myeloma, and cardioprotection.

Earlier this month, the company received a human ethics approval from the Hunter New England Human Research Ethics Committee for the observational stage of a planned Phase 1/2b cardioprotection trial.

In the clinical program, pipelines include the Phase 2 R/R AML (Acute Myeloid Leukaemia) Combination Trial, the Phase 1/2 EMD AML Trial, and the FTO Biomarker collaboration trial.

Dr Daniel Tillett, Race’s Chief Scientific Officer, told Stockhead that their lead asset Zantrene present multiple opportunities.

“The Zantrene molecule has proven to be useful in so many different ways,” Tillett explained.

“As a result, we now have a wealth of opportunity, and our difficult is actually in narrowing down our focus – to select just a few that offer the most opportunity out of the hundreds of possibilities we have.”

Tillett predicts the cardioprotection pipeline could become a massive and unique opportunity, and expects to have updates on that in the coming months.

Over the longer term, Tillett believes that the company’s program in m6A RNA regulation via FTO could present a blue-sky opportunity.

In September last year, Race contracted Monash University to initiate an important step in the discovery of new m6A RNA targeted drugs in pursuit of its Pillar 3 ‘Beyond Zantrene’ strategy – a strategy that seeks to diversify the company’s risks beyond the Zantrene program.

Meanwhile, the AML clinical programs are the company’s most advanced after receiving positive guidance during a pre-Investigational New Drug (pre-IND) meeting with the US FDA last September.

The FDA’s guidance acknowledged that AML continues to have significant unmet needs in the US, despite Race not conducting any clinical trials in the country.

“Our AML programs are legacy programs, and formed a great knowledge base for us that are low risk, however we do appreciate that AML may not have the upside potential that either cardioprotection or FTO may offer,” said Tillett.

Biotech is back!

All in all, Race’s newsflow in 2023 looks stacked as the company plans to release a number of updates from its various trials throughout the year.

An early investor in Race, Tillett has recently acquired more shares in the company.

“The whole biotech market has been down over the last two years, but now valuations have started to come back.

“Ultimately, shareholders want to see us succeed, and if we succeed they want to see that we succeed on a large scale,” Tillett added.

Meanwhile, Clarke-Bruce said that insights from the recent JP Morgan conference in California , he believes that US Big Pharma companies are contemplating getting back into acquiring assets that are in that preclinical or early phase of development.

“Race is in the process of optimising and advancing our programs, plus building out our data package with the goal of exploring potential licensing and partnerships moving forward. It can happen tomorrow at market , or more typically these deals are developed over a period of time. But if you sit around and wait, you might miss the boat,” Clarke-Bruce said.

This article was developed in collaboration with Race Oncology, 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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