London (UK), April 29, 2024 (07:30 CET) – Vidac Pharma Holdings Plc. (Hamburg and Stuttgart: T9G; ISIN:GB00BM9XQ619; WKN: A3DTUQ), a clinical-stage oncology biopharmaceutical company pioneering a novel class of cancer treatments, today announced it has advanced VDA-1275, its newest cancer therapeutic candidate, into preclinical IND-enabling studies. VDA-1275 has shown strong synergistic effects in vitro with standard-of-care treatment in multiple mouse cancer and human cellular organoid models of solid tumors. Using a CT26 colorectal cancer line developing tumors in mice, the new animal study will evaluate stand-alone activity of VDA-1275, as well as in combination with cisplatin, a widely used chemotherapy.
“These studies are another important step towards clinical trials for VDA-1275. We achieved exceptionally strong results with VDA-1275 in laboratory testing, validating our approach of tackling the mis-location of the hexokinase-2 enzyme, which we believe is a major factor in causing cancer,” Chief Executive Officer Prof. Max Herzberg said. “With this mode of action, we believe VDA-1275 could have a broad application across a wide range of tumors.”
In the earlier in vitro studies, VDA-1275 showed statistically significant efficacy as a monotherapy, as well as synergistic effects in combination with two standard-of-care cancer treatments: sorafenib, a kinase inhibitor, and cisplatin, a widely used chemotherapy drug. The studies also showed that VDA-1275 triggered an immunologic response, inducing anti-tumor macrophages and memory T-cells, and inhibiting tumor-promoting macrophages.
Both VDA-1275 and the more advanced VDA-1102, now in Phase 2b clinical studies to treat advanced actinic keratosis and Phase 2 testing in cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, disrupt the interaction between hexokinase 2 (HK2) and the voltage-dependent anion channels (VDACs) in mitochondria. Cancer cells overexpress HK2, which catalyzes the first step of the glucose metabolism necessary to fuel tumor growth. HK2 blocks the channels, which prevents apoptosis, supports cancer cell proliferation, and suppresses immune responses. The resulting high concentrations of lactate lead to an acidic and low-oxygen micro-environment in the cancer cells and the nearby tumor microenvironment which fosters cancer growth. Clinical data for Vidac’s first-generation metabolic checkpoint modulator candidates have shown powerful effects in halting cancer cell proliferation and restoring immune-sensitivity and apoptosis.
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About Vidac Pharma
Vidac Pharma is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to discovering and developing first-in-class medicines to help people suffering from a range of oncologic and onco-dermatologic diseases. Vidac develops first-in-class anti-cancer drugs by modifying the hyper glycolytic tumor microenvironment, targeting the overexpression and wrong anchoring of the hexokinase 2 metabolic checkpoint (HK2) in cancer cells, to renormalize the tumor microenvironment and selectively provoke the programmed death of cancer cells without affecting surrounding normal tissue. VDA-1102, a first drug candidate of Vidac Pharma, has shown to be effective against advanced actinic keratosis (AK), while interim results in cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) showed positive effects in Phase 2 trials.
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