On June 2, 2021 Amplia Therapeutics Limited (ASX: ATX), ("Amplia" or the "Company"), a company developing new approaches for the treatment of cancer and fibrosis, reported that it has received new data from its collaboration with Professor Paul Timpson of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney ("Garvan") (Press release, Amplia Therapeutics, JUN 2, 2021, View Source;[email protected] [SID1234583400]). The new data show that Amplia’s Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK) inhibitor AMP945 is able to improve the anticancer activity of combined gemcitabine and Abraxane in an animal model of aggressive pancreatic cancer.
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Gemicitabine and Abraxane is a widely used first-line treatment for patients with pancreatic cancer. These new data show that adding intermittent doses of Amplia’s AMP945 to this standard-of-care therapy increases survival by 27% in the aggressive KPC pancreatic cancer animal model. This follows previous work showing that AMP945 enhances the activity of chemotherapy by increasing cell death and reducing cancer cell proliferation. The latest study showsthat these effectstranslate into a survival benefit in an animal model of pancreatic cancer.
In the recent experiment, pancreatic tumour tissue was grown subcutaneously in mice using an animal model of pancreatic cancer called the KPC model, a well-established and widely accepted model of the disease. Once the tumours were established, AMP945 was orally administered to the animals in between their doses of gemcitabine/Abraxane in order to make the tumours more susceptible to the effects of the chemotherapy. The median survival time of untreated mice was 18 days, while mice treated with AMP945 alone or with gemcitabine/Abraxane alone exhibited a median survival time of 23 days or 22 days respectively. By contrast, mice treated with a combination of AMP945 and gemcitabine/Abraxane had a median survival time of 28 days, representing a statistically significant 27% increase in median survival (P ≤ 0.001), relative to gemcitabine/Abraxane alone. * P ≤ 0.05; *** P ≤ 0.001 Commenting on the results, Professor Timpson noted that "The pancreatic cancer cells used in this experiment are extremely aggressive, so showing any beneficial effect on survival is very encouraging. A 25% improvement in survival in this model is very impressive and a level of improvement that we rarely see."
Dr. John Lambert, CEO of Amplia commented that "These data further underpin the rationale for our planned Phase 2 clinical trial in pancreatic cancer. Earlier data told us that adding AMP945 to gemcitabine and Abraxane increased cancer cell death and reduced proliferation, and this new data tells us that those effects actually translate into prolonged survival in this model. We are strongly encouraged by these results."
Amplia is currently using recently raised capital for a range of essential activities required to initiate the Phase 2 clinical trial in pancreatic cancer patients towards the end of this year.
This ASX announcement was approved and authorised for release by the Board of Amplia Therapeutics Limited.