On January 21, 2025 TRACER and VAR2 Pharma reported the first patient enrolled in the VARTUTRACE study, a Phase 0 first-in-human imaging trial (NCT06645808) (Press release, Var2 Pharmaceuticals, JAN 21, 2025, View Source [SID1234649798]). The patient, suffering from lung carcinoma received the Investigational Medicinal Product (IMP), a zirconium-89-labeled single-chain variable fragment (scFv), Vartumab, on Dec 17, 2024. The patient successfully completed all study visits.

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The obtained data provides valuable insight into using the onco-fetal Chondroitin Sulfate (ofCS) binding Vartumab to selectively target tumors (Nat Commun. 2024 Aug 30;15(1):7553). The study will in total include 16 patients with various solid cancer types for each of the two Vartumab antibodies. Allowing the research team to evaluate the biodistribution and tumor accumulation of both Vartumabs prior to clinical testing of Vartumab-based Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADC).

"The enrollment of the first patient is always a big milestone in clinical research. Our team is very happy with the first patient-in and we’re excited to gather more data on the Vartumabs." – Noortje van Dijk, project manager at TRACER.

"I am thrilled to see our new pan-cancer antibodies moving forward in this first clinical study, paving the way for efficacy studies and hopefully one day a novel treatment for the many cancer patients with limited or exhausted clinical options" – Ali Salanti, CEO at VAR2 Pharma.