THE idea of literally blowing up cancer cells using a common cold virus appeals at both the populist and scientific level.
Known as oncolytic virotherapy, the idea has led to some very big deals, most notably a $US1 billion one between Amgen and Biovex.
Australian-listed Viralytics is hoping some of that success will rub off on it as its phase two tests on advanced melanoma patients holds the promise of being a much more effective treatment with far fewer side effects.
Executive chair Paul Hopper said the exploding cancer cells and shrinking tumours are not the only benefit of using a virus to fight cancer, it naturally replicates rapidly within those cancer cells before the resulting cell burst sends the virus out to continue seeking out further cancer tumours to invade around the body.
While Viralytics' drug, Cavatak, has been dramatically successful in animal studies and shown a lot of promise in previous human trials, the currently recruiting phase two test on 63 late-stage melanoma patients will be the real acid test of whether Viralytics can attract a large pharmaceutical partner to take the drug through expensive phase three testing.
The aim is to maximise the number of patients who have stable disease and shrinking tumours six months after treatment, which in itself would be a spectacular result given the poor prognosis for late stage melanoma patients.
So far the encouraging part of using this virus to fight cancer is the long lasting effect and the promise that combining several therapies at an earlier stage could dramatically improve the treatment and prognosis for a range of cancer patients.
While this test is on melanoma, the naturally occurring common cold virus Coxsackievirus21 that Viralytics is using also appears to bond very well to a variety of cancers including breast, prostate, brain, head and neck tumours.
From a shareholder perspective, there should be quite a bit of news flow from Viralytics including the looming appointment of a chief executive, updates on patient recruitment over the next year which currently stands at 13, an expanding number of US trial sites plus updates on a bladder cancer collaboration project.
Also, because the phase two trial is ``open label'' as an investigational new drug by the Food and Drug Administration, results should come out much earlier than for larger double blind trials.
All of which makes Viralytics a speculative buy for investors who can tolerate high risk/high reward stocks.
Source: Herald Sun
VLA Price at posting:
39.1¢ Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held
