Initial experiments are underway in the indication and the company expects to have a plan for clinical development in AML during the second half of the year. Meanwhile, the Phase II and Ib studies CORIST and PANTAX are ongoing. Data are expected in Q3 2023 and Q1 2024.
Biotechnology company Scandion Oncology The goal is to develop a treatment that will counteract drug resistance – something that occurs in up to 90 percent of certain serious and/or metastatic cancers. Drug resistance means that the cancer can bypass the effect of the treatment through a variety of different mechanisms. Many believe that this is the biggest obstacle to achieving a cure for cancer, since there is currently no drug that can counteract this problem.
Scandion's strategy is to evaluate the lead candidate SCO-101 in combination with existing chemotherapy. The company is currently running two clinical studies with the candidate – CHORUS in phase II, in metastatic colon cancer. The second is the phase Ib study PANTAX in metastatic pancreatic cancer. At the end of March, the company also announced that it had identified the blood cancer type AML, acute myeloid leukemia, as a third indication to expand SCO-101 to. Read more here.
The only candidate in clinic targeting ABCG1
The decision is based on the large unmet need for treatment in the disease. The relapse rate among patients is over 50 percent, the highest among all blood cancers. Stem cell or bone marrow transplantation in combination with chemotherapy is a central part of managing the disease. Although the treatment is effective for some patients, the five-year survival rate is a dismal figure of less than 20 percent.
Further justification for the decision to expand SCO-101 to AML is the fact that relapse in the cancer can often be attributed to drug resistance. More specifically, it has emerged in the scientific literature that this resistance can be caused by the protein, also known as the efflux pump, ABCG2. This enables cancer cells to pump out the active drugs. Preclinical research also shows that inhibiting ABCG2 enhances the effect of current drug treatments for AML in cells that overexpress this protein.
It is precisely ABCG2 that SCO-101 inhibits. Scandion therefore believes that the candidate, which also happens to be the only one in clinical development that focuses on this target, has great potential to reduce drug resistance in combination with current drugs in AML. By focusing on this third indication, the overall risk for SCO-101 is also reduced.
Investing through three tracks
In the Q1 report for this year, it was also made public that the company has already moved forward in three different ways within the indication. Firstly, the company has entered into an agreement with a global contract research organization, which has resulted in initial experiments being underway. Scandion will explore the expression of ABCG2 in cryopreserved cells from AML patients, as well as look at the synergistic effects of SCO-101 and current chemotherapy in treating the disease.
In addition to this, Scandion is in discussions with international key opinion leaders from a leading Italian university hospital in AML research that may result in a research collaboration. In addition, the company is conducting internal research to explore synergies between SCO-101 and chemotherapies in AML.
Scandion estimates that these efforts will result in data during H2 2023, which will form the basis for a plan for clinical development within the new indication.
CORIST and PANTAX progressing according to plan
In parallel, work continues on the PANTAX and CORIST studies. In PANTAX, Scandion announced at the end of March that the study had achieved its primary endpoint, namely establishing the highest tolerable dose of SCO-101 in combination with standard-of-care chemotherapy in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. Read more hereThe final data analysis will take place in Q1 2024, which is expected to contribute to the continued planning of the candidate in pancreatic cancer and/or other indications.
In CORIST, patient recruitment for part three of a total of four planned parts of the study is progressing well. Topline data are still expected in Q3 2023. The data will contribute to finding an optimal dosage of SCO-101 in order to ensure maximum effect in patients with metastatic colon cancer. Since Scandion sees the greatest potential in the three established indications, the company has chosen to downgrade its previous preclinical focus on SCO-101 in combination with immunotherapies.
Read an in-depth article on drug resistance here.
Funded until 2024
For Q1 2023, Scandion reports a cash balance of 60 MDKK, compared to 77 MDKK in the same period last year. Cash flow amounted to -17,4 MDKK (-28,1) and operating profit to -11,9 MDKK (-80,1). The company estimates that the cash will finance the operations into 2024.