Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is the principal brain cancer and remains a DEVASTATING pathology with very poor patient prognosis. The average age at diagnosis is less than 60 years old and average survival rates from diagnosis extend for barely one year. Few effective or innovative treatments have emerged over the past two decades. SURGICAL LIMITATION, Tumour heterogeneity, drug resistance, immunosuppressive tumor environments, tumor escape from therapy and the stealth capabilities of GBM stem cells readily differentiating into new tumors, are all obstacles to effective therapy development.
CYTEA|BIO BELIEVES THAT CELLULAR IMMUNOTHERAPY CAN OVERCOME SUCH OBSTACLES AND HAS THEREFORE elected to develop a new product, based on its Pin™ platform, for the treatment of GBM. The first indication will be as a second line treatment following tumor excision surgery with a target end point of more rapid residual tumour depletion and/or inhibition of reCURRENCE. The targeting ligand associated with the therapeutic cells will be matched to the tumor characteristics determined by biopsy.
Successful establishment of the Pin™ platform for GBM treatment would open a path to increasingly effective new generations of products, providing a very valuable asset base for CYTEA|BIO. In addition, a successful demonstration of safety and efficacy for the GBM indication would offer major clinical, societal and human benefits for a group of patients that have waited too long for treatment innovation.
The likely molecular target(s) for GBM are shared with a number of other common cancers, and this means that the drug products developed can be engaged in clinical studies for other indications in parallel with the primary efforts on GBM.