Denmark Curasight develops drug candidates uTRACE and uTREAT for the diagnosis and treatment of various cancers. The technology revolves around the uPAR receptor, a known biomarker for cancer aggressiveness. The company's PET tracer uTRACE is a new non-invasive diagnostic tool for localizing and assessing cancer aggressiveness. In uTREAT, the tracer is armed with a beta-emitting radionuclide to create a short-range radiation treatment.
Updated strategy with more indications
Since its IPO in 2020, Curasight has presented positive results from several investigator-initiated studies with uTRACE. This led to an update of the company's strategy earlier this year, and it is now pursuing development in prostate cancer, head and neck cancer, neuroendocrine tumors and brain cancer with uTRACE.
For uTREAT, the focus of Curasight has been primarily on brain cancer, but a recent update announced that head and neck cancer and neuroendocrine tumors had also been added to the list. Read more about the update here.
Expectant about results in brain cancer
With positive Phase II results in three major cancer indications for uTRACE, attention is focused on the pending results for brain cancer in the ongoing study at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen. Curasight announced this summer that the study has been fully recruited, after some pandemic-related delays. A total of 35 patients with brain cancer have been tested and results are expected in the coming months.
The results will not only be important for the uTRACE project, they will also be pieces in the uTREAT puzzle being put into place in the brain cancer indication.
Solid finances and insider buying
The above are the most important parts when reading Curasight's report for the third quarter of 2022. Regarding the company's finances, an operating loss of 1,6 MDKK was reported for the quarter, which can be compared to an operating loss of 0,8 MDKK for the corresponding period last year. The company ended the period with a solid cash position of approximately 56 MDKK.
During the quarter it was announced that Hanne Damgaard Jensen, Curasight's Chief Development Officer, had purchased 7 shares in the company. After the purchase, her total holding in Curasight amounts to 600 shares.
Comments from the CEO
BioStock contacted Curasight's CEO Ulrich Krasilnikoff to find out more about the past quarter and what he expects going forward.
First of all, Ulrich, how would you characterize the third quarter of 2022?
– I see the third quarter as a quarter where many actions have been taken internally – both in relation to our clinical development activities and associated regulatory activities, as well as to the entire business development, where we have continuously had meetings with potential partners regarding partnership agreements and with potential future institutional investors. We believe all of these activities contribute to value creation in Curasight, even if we have not been able to communicate anything to the market yet.
In parallel with the development activities, you are also actively looking for partners. Can you give us a quick update on how that work is progressing?
– Discussions are currently underway with various potential partners, where there is clearly a genuine interest in Curasight's technology. In this context, it should be mentioned that some potential partners are primarily interested in the uTRACE platform (diagnostics), while others are interested in the uTREAT platform (therapy) and some are interested in both uTRACE and uTREAT to drive the theranostic principle within one or more cancer indications. It is therefore a puzzle to clarify the optimal match in terms of mutual interest and what will serve Curasight best – both in the short and long term. Therefore, it is also something that will take time before we expect to be able to communicate anything more concrete to the market about one or more collaboration agreements.
Looking ahead a bit, what milestones can investors expect from Curasight in the short and medium term?
– We are currently awaiting publication of the results from the completed investigator-initiated phase II study in brain cancer with uTRACE. We are also awaiting the completion and data from our preclinical study in brain cancer with uTREAT, which is also an important part of the ongoing discussions with some of the potential pharmaceutical companies with whom we are in discussions.
In addition, we look forward to the preclinical results for head and neck cancer and neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) in the spring – and there is a lot happening in the regulatory area – including discussions with the FDA on the design of the various studies. And on top of that, we have all the partnership discussions that I can’t say anything more about for obvious reasons – except that I expect 2023 to be a really interesting year for Curasight, to the delight of all our stakeholders.