Theralase Technologies (OTCQX:TLTFF; TSXV:TLT) recently identified a new platform of super potent anti-cancer drugs, or PDCs, discovered by Dr. Sherri McFarland, Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, the original inventor of the Theralase licensed ruthenium-based PDCs.
Dr. McFarland has discovered a new generation of PDCs that are 10 billion times more potent in killing cancer cells than other tested PDCs. It only takes a few molecules of the new PDCs to kill cancer cells, in vitro, when activated by visible light.
The preliminary data, obtained to date, demonstrates that the new PDCs exhibit preferential properties for IV delivery and are able to greatly expand the scope of cancers that can be targeted by this new platform photodynamic therapy (PDT) technology.
“With our PDC TLD-1433 showing promise in a Phase 1b clinical trial for treating non-muscle invasive bladder cancer with PDT, it is an exciting time to be working closely with the Theralase team on the development of the next generation PDCs for hard-to-treat cancers such as glioblastoma multiforme, a deadly form of brain cancer,” Dr. McFarland said in a statement.
Dr. Arkady Mandel, CSO of Theralase, said the ability to increase the light toxicity of the PDC by ten orders of magnitude without affecting the dark toxicity of the PDC, is a dramatic discovery.
“The in vitro results presented by Dr. McFarland opens up a tremendous opportunity to develop and clinically evaluate a new PDT technology platform that may mitigate the risk of systemic toxicity, while offering an exceptional potency in the destruction of cancer cells; hence, safely and effectively, destroying a greater quantity of cancer cells per single treatment,” he added.
“This provides the company with an opportunity to establish a new realm in the types of cancers that can safely and effectively be treated with this cutting-edge PDT technology,” Dr. Mandel said.
Roger Dumoulin-White, president and CEO of Theralase, said the company, in its collaborative research partnership with Dr. McFarland, continues to push the envelope on what these PDCs are capable of in the destruction of cancer cells.
“I look forward to scaling up the manufacture of these new PDCs to allow use in a new Phase 1b clinical study,” he added.
