This rare type of lymphoma ruins the body – so do existing treatments. Prescient could have a solution 

This rare type of lymphoma ruins the body – so do existing treatments. Prescient could have a solution 

Jonathon Davidson

The Market Online, Australia

It’s no secret that the rate of cancer both in Australia and overseas appears to be increasing – particularly among young people.

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This content has been prepared as part of a partnership with Prescient Therapeutics and is intended for informational purposes only.

While part of the story is an increased ability to diagnose cancers early, thanks to technological advancements in the 21st century, that doesn’t account for the overall increase. Driven by factors unknown (and extremely interconnected), cancer, overall, is on the rise.

And so, then, is the race for drugs to treat the myriad types of cancers that pose a risk to human health. But the overall ecosystem of cancers is diverse, massive, and too voluminous to recreate here.

However, perhaps the worst type of cancer to get is a rare cancer that, due to its low prevalence, is less well studied and has no treatment.

A lot of cancers fall into that category, with one of the most insidious being Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma (CTCL).

What is CTCL?

Lymphoma is well known as a blood cancer that, simply put (and like all cancers,) forms in the human body when our immune system effectively gets slack and misses a dead cell without getting rid of it.

Imagine an AI-powered machine on a farm scanning apples for quality control. Even with 99.99% accuracy, now and then, a rotten apple will get through.

This painfully elementary explanation will suffice to brush over how cancers form – but CTCL is worth noting for other reasons, making it particularly difficult in the diagnostic context.

Because it forms in the skin (thus the prefix ‘cutaneous’), CTCL is particularly problematic in that it is more easily missed in early-stage scans and check-ups. In short, the condition doesn’t necessarily present as a cancer when it first starts in the body.

The problems for the human body start there. In time, CTCL spreads across the body’s surface, typically presenting as what appears to be a rash, or in some cases, sunburn. But it’s not a matter of freezing off angry-looking moles – a completely different kettle of fish, lymphoma is, in fact, a blood cancer, meaning localised treatments don’t work.

And what treatments exist for this rare disease have been, bluntly, horrendous for patients so far.

Investors wouldn’t need any help connecting the dots between a company with better treatment and potential windfalls.

We need a better treatment. Enter Prescient

ASX-listed biotech Prescient Therapeutics (ASXTX) is one such company looking to treat CTCL with its in-house drug PTX-100.

We know what the company is working to treat – CTCL. But for a condition where the treatment can often be just as uncomfortable as the symptomology itself, here, any kind of improvement to the tools stands to become profitable.

And that’s if those side effects aren’t outright dangerous, with more than 35% of side effects of existing treatments considered ‘major.’

This is part of the reason that, according to Prescient, the company is heading toward a potential US$1.8 billion addressable market.

“Patients have [existing] treatment options where you may get up to 30-36% response rates, but they come with a lot of severe adverse events attached to them,” Prescient Therapeutics CEO Dr. James McDonnell recently told HotCopper.

“These are fragile patients who are also having to deal with those side effects, so there’s a clear unmet need.

“One thing [drug developers] don’t normally talk about is severe adverse events, and in our benchmark, we thought ‘well, 30% maybe less, would be great’ – [but] we actually achieved a 4% serious adverse event rate, which is 1 patient with severe diarrhea.”

PTX-100 could change the game

The potential impacts, then, of PTX-100 are hard to overstate.

Without getting into deep medical terminology, in short, PTX-100 targets a key enzyme in the body linked with cancer cell growth.

By blocking that enzyme, in existing trials to date, the company has collected strong supportive evidence that PTX-100 could be a reliable and replicable way to treat CTCL across diverse patient backgrounds.

Based on existing and well-established clinical data taken from existing studies, PTX-100 is the only compound that has shown tumour shrinkage or halt of up to 64% in patients with CTCL and inflicted little to no side effects in users.

As far as the company’s existing datasets show (and clinical trials are ongoing,) the most damaging side effect recorded to date has been diarrhea, according to the company’s own analysis – one of the less-damaging side effects that presents in patients taking oral chemo drugs (let alone radiation therapy.)

The material provided in this article is for information only and should not be treated as investment advice. Viewers are encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with a certified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. For full disclaimer information, please clickhere.

Jonathon Davidson

The Market Online, Australia

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