Adobe Stock
NanOlogy LLC, a Fort Worth-based clinical-stage oncology company, announced on Wednesday that it had been issued a U.S. patent for a new method for treating cancer.
“Local Delivery of Antineoplastic Particles in Combination with Systemic Delivery of Immunotherapeutic Agents for the Treatment of Cancer” is valid in the U.S. until Nov. 25, 2038. It has corresponding filings globally.
The new patent covers a method of treating cancer by the use of large surface area microparticle taxanes that are injected into the tumor along with immune checkpoint inhibitors that are administered throughout the body.
“The Cancer Research Institute estimates more than 5,000 clinical trials are underway worldwide with immune checkpoint inhibitors; many are combination trials with other systemic cancer agents in solid tumors.” said Gere DiZerega, NanOlogy chief medical officer, in a statement. “The goal is to identify which combinations can increase the immune response thereby increasing the overall solid tumor response to treatment. Unfortunately, a key challenge is the stacking of severe toxicities that can occur when multiple systemic therapies are used in combination.”
Immune checkpoint inhibitors are often used in combination with other systemic cancer therapies particularly in the treatment of solid tumors to prime the immune system to increase response.
A growing body of preclinical and clinical data demonstrate local and systemic immunomodulation after local delivery of NanOlogy’s LSAM investigational drugs together with outside research pointing to the value of treating the primary tumor in first-step treatments, locally advanced, and metastatic settings to improve clinical outcomes.
The patent adds to NanOlogy’s extensive global intellectual property portfolio of more than 250 issued or filed patents covering composition, formulation, use, and technology.
“With this patent added to our portfolio, NanOlogy is in a strong position to further investigate clinically whether the combination of its local LSAM investigational drugs with systemic ICIs increases response without adding toxicity as suggested in our preclinical and early clinical research,” said Marc Iacobucci, a NanOlogy managing director. “Our goal is to improve cancer treatment and potentially offer a strategy for product lifecycle extension for ICIs when used in combination with our drugs.”
In all, NanOlogy clinical programs have advanced tumor directed LSAM investigational drugs in multiple solid tumors including pancreas, lung, bladder, peritoneal, ovarian, prostate, and dermal cancers. More than 170 patients have been treated to date across its clinical trials with signals of tumor and immune response and no confirmed drug-related serious adverse events.