Project description
Targeting mechanisms of cancer drug resistance
Resistance to anticancer therapy represents the main obstacle to successful long-term treatment and recovery of cancer patients. Scandion Oncology from Denmark is developing a new drug (SCO-101) that effectively targets several most common cancer molecular resistance mechanisms. SCO-101 has successfully passed four clinical phase 1 studies in healthy volunteers. The goal of the EU-funded SCANRESIST project is to conduct clinical validation studies in patients with taxane-resistant cancer with open-labelled phase 2 prospective clinical trial to establish SCO-101 proof-of-concept as a safe and efficient treatment modality. SCO-101 represents a paradigm shift acting via multiple mechanisms to interfere with drug resistance.
Objective
Worldwide in 2018, cancer has been responsible for around 9.6 million deaths, and with a prediction of a further increase in incidence over the next years – which calls for urgent better treatment modalities to combat such deadly disease. Resistance to anticancer therapy is considered the main obstacle to successful clinical management of cancer patients. Scandion Oncology A/S (SCANDION) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company aimed to solve the anti-cancer drug resistance problem. We are developing a new drug, the SCO-101, which effectively targets some of the most common molecular resistance mechanisms in cancer. SCO-101 represent a paradigm shift in treatment of drug-resistant cancer, with multi mechanisms of actions in interfering with drug resistance. SCO-101 has previously passed four clinical phase I studies in healthy volunteers and proved to be a safe oral drug with very limited toxicity. The SCANRESIST project aims at performing clinical validation studies in taxane resistant breast cancer patients with open-labelled Phase II prospective clinical trial to establish SCO-101 Proof of Concept as a safe and efficient treatment modality.
Our business model is based on out-licensing SCO-101 to pharma players active in anti-cancer drugs – who will be responsible for the remaining clinical development and market launch. The Phase II clinical validation has been pointed as a critical step achieve a deal with big pharma partners/licensees, which we know are interested in novel drugs with novel MoA, and with well-designed and well-performed phase II studies with positive results. Thus, the project will not only open a large market for SCANDION as it will also allow us to position the company as a unique provider of a new generation of anti-cancer resistance drugs – continuing our path on developing other drugs to combat drug resistance in cancer, innovative trial designs, predictive biomarkers and biomarker endpoints.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
2100 KOBENHAVN
Denmark
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.