The biomedical company Xintela Since its founding in 2009, Xintela has used its technology platform to develop treatment methods in regenerative medicine and cancer in two primary focus areas: the joint disease osteoarthritis and the brain tumor glioblastoma. For both of these disease areas, the need for new and better treatments is great, and Xintela's goal is to contribute to improving the lives of countless patients through its patented technology.
For the treatment of osteoarthritis, Xintela is developing stem cells and has conducted preclinical studies in horses with positive results and is currently preparing a first clinical study in humans. This is a phase I/IIa dose study that will be conducted in Australia. The company has also built its own GMP facility for the production of stem cells for clinical studies.
Treatment for glioblastoma and other aggressive cancers
It is the company's cancer research that has now been awarded two million kronor from VinnovaThe prognosis for patients with glioblastoma is very poor and the median survival of those receiving standard treatment (surgery, radiation and chemotherapy) is only approximately 15 months.
Glioblastoma cells are masters at spreading in the brain and often develop resistance to current treatments, which in turn leads to relapse and disease progression for patients. There is therefore a great and urgent need for new and effective treatments for this patient category.
Last year, Xintela also opened up the possibility of expanding the project to include other cancers beyond glioblastoma. The announcement came after interesting discoveries were made about the project's potential in other cancer indications as well. In the Q1 report 2019, the CEO mentioned Evy Lundgren-Åkerlund that a patent application has been filed regarding the diagnosis and therapy of certain aggressive cancers including breast cancer, prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer and lung cancer. Read more.
The cancer project is progressing steadily
In the cancer project, Xintela uses two strategies to develop cancer therapy. One is based on the so-called Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs), a form of targeted cancer treatment that consists of an integrin α10 antibody linked to a cytotoxic agent. The antibody in the ADC molecule seeks out and binds to the specific target molecule integrin α10 on tumor cells, after which the cytotoxic agent kills the tumor cell.
The second strategy consists of integrin α10 antibodies, which in themselves have an inhibitory effect on cancer cells. The contribution from Vinnova concerns the ADC project.
Last year, Xintela announced that it had reached an important milestone in its cancer project. According to a publication in the well-respected journal cancers Xintela was able to show that an ADC where a cytotoxic agent is linked to an integrin α10β1-binding antibody has a targeting and cell-killing effect on glioblastoma cells both in cell studies and in an animal model.
Given the significant progress of the cancer project, Xintela has decided to spin it off into a subsidiary. Targinta ABThe spin-off will ensure that the project is continued in a focused and optimized manner and will be completed when financing is secured.
Two million kronor from Vinnova
Now Vinnova has also noted the potential of Xintela's cancer project, which has been awarded two million kronor by the Swedish Innovation Authority, which is the highest amount that can be awarded within the current call for proposals "Innovation projects in small and medium-sized enterprises". The criteria for being eligible for the call are that the project should be able to result in new products or products that are significantly better than those available on the market today. In addition, the project should have great commercial potential.
In a comment, CEO Evy Lundgren-Åkerlund emphasized the importance of having been awarded the Vinnova grant in fierce competition:
"This is really good news for Xintela's cancer research. The fact that our cancer project has been awarded the highest amount in competition with a large number of applications is an excellent seal of quality for the project."
The money will be used to preclinically evaluate various ADCs with the aim of finding an optimal ADC candidate for the treatment of glioblastoma and other aggressive cancers and will help drive Xintela's cancer project one step closer to patients.
The content of BioStock's news and analysis is independent, but BioStock's operations are to some extent financed by companies in the industry. This post refers to a company from which BioStock has received funding.