Pancreatic cancer as a treatment target of Dwarfbody-Therapeutics

Project Information

PANTREAT

Grant agreement ID: 763138

DOI

10.3030/763138

Project closed

EC signature date 4 February 2017

Start date 1 March 2017

End date 31 August 2017

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Health, demographic change and well-being

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

DWARFBODY-THERAPEUTICS WERKMAATSCHAPPIJ BV
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PANTREAT (Pancreatic cancer as a treatment target of Dwarfbody-Therapeutics)

Reporting period: 2017-03-01 to 2017-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The problems addressed

The spin off company Dwarfbody-Therapeutics has developed proprietary antibodies that target malignant signaling pathways in aggressive cancers. Currently the drug has been tested for esophageal cancer. However to bring the drug to the market, it is of important to address a larger segment in the market. Earlier studies showed that several cancers, including stomach, colon and pancreatic cancers have high expression of the drug target. Targeting this larger market will enhance development of the drugs and increase the interest of shareholders. Since for pancreatic cancer the unmet need is currently the highest and these cancers have the highest mutational laod and target expression in this POC the drug will be evaluated for the application of pancreatic cancer. For further

Importance for the society
Dwarfbody-therapeutics has proprietary antibodies that target the malignant signaling of aggressive cancers. Despite novel therapies, patients that suffer from metastatic disease of cancers of the gastro-intestinal tract have poor outcomes, therefore developing Dwarfbodies molecules further will be important for society. Most important stakeholders are patients next are physicians and scientists in the field. The Dwarfbodies also are highly cost effective to produce and therefore can be developed and delivered against low costs. This is important for the market but also for insurance companies and health care programs of governments.

Overall objectives:
To obtain proof of principle that the Dwarfbodies are effective for pancreatic cancer and if this proof has been obtained reevaluate the market and build a more sound portfolio and business plan. Furthermore DB-Tx will is evaluating different GMP production sites in order to obtain a first batch for toxicology screening in the next phase of the project against the lowest possible costs.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Dwarfbodies have been produced in a large batch to test the DBs for pancreatic cancer. The first tests have been performed in animals bearing human pancreatic cancers by a CRO. Grants have been submitted to further test and develop the DBs for clinical applications. Several production sites in the EU have been contacted to perform GMP production.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

In this project we demonstrated that pancreatic cancer respond to anti-BMP4 therapy. We showed that this effect could only be demonstrated in primary PDTXs that have maintained target expression, which depends on an intact tumor micro environment. Pancreatic cancers are known to be resistant because of signals within the tumor micro-environment that drive these cancers towards to escape treatment and early mertastasis. By demonstrating that our drug inhibits pancreatic cancer with active stromal signals, our results can be translated more easily to the clinical situation.

treatment results of pancreatic cancer in model

BMP expression in pacreatic cancer