What has happened?
Prescient Therapeutics (PTX:ASX) announced their second-quarter activities and cashflow report which covered their financials, the PTX-100 and PTX-200 clinical trials, the completion of the strategic review of the OmniCAR development program and the appointment of Professor Prince to the Scientific Advisory Board along with the extension of the SARS-Cov-2 drug testing partnership.
What are the key highlights?
- Prescient continued to meet its clinical and development milestones and ended the quarter with a cash balance of $18.4 million. Cash outflows for the quarter were $1.2 million with $777,000 being attributable to R&D Activities. These costs for the quarter included ongoing clinical trials and manufacturing outlays for the PTX-100 and PTX-200, along with the development of the OmniCAR next-generation CAR-T platform.
- During the quarter, no material issues were reported for the studies pertaining to the PTX-100 and PTX-200, which continued to enrol patients. In an encouraging sign for the PTX-100 trial, it was noted that patients are staying on therapy much longer than anticipated.
- Prescient stated that During the quarter, significant work went into identifying the optimal development pathway for OmniCAR to create differentiated next-generation CAR-T therapies where current-generation CAR-T therapies have faced challenges. In regards to OmniCAR, Prescient identified three internal development programs:
OmniCAR CD33 and CLL-1for Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML);
OmniCAR Her2 for Her2+ solid tumours including breast, ovarian and gastric cancers;
OmniCAR Her2 and EGFRviii for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).
- Another highlight out from Prescient is that Professor Miles H. Prince AM joined the Company’s Scientific Advisory Board around the end of the December quarter. Professor Prince is a pioneer in the research and development of Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies.
- In addition to these points, Prescient also announced that they have been collaborating with Australia’s respected Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunology to evaluate two Prescient assets for Australia’s national SARS-CoV2 antiviral testing program. The work seeks to determine the potential anti-viral activity of these assets in SARS-CoV-2 infected Vero cells.
- Prescient also expanded their patent protection in October of 2020 when the US patent and Trademark Office issued a notice of allowance for a new patent covering methods using a scientific biomarker that will help identify breast cancer patients most likely to respond positively to treatment with PTX-100.
What does this mean?
Prescient announced another quarter of meeting its clinical and development milestones. The company finished the quarter with a cash balance of $18.4 million after receiving an Australian Government Research and Development tax refund of AU$1.03 million in November of 2020. This refund went a long way with $777,000 being invested in research and development activities. The Company’s strong cash balance could potentially provide a foundation from which to deliver ambitious clinical milestones that could ultimately provide significant shareholder value in the time to come along with the added benefit of dramatically improved outcomes for clinical cancer patients.
In regards to the PTX-100 and PTX-200, no material issues were reported as patient enrolments continued. Additional good news, with patients staying on therapy much longer than anticipated for the PTX-100 trial. The establishment of the optimal development pathway for OmniCAR by Prescient will hopefully pave the way for next-generation CAR-T therapies where the current generation has faced some challenges in the past.
Prescient also signed on Professor Miles Prince to the Company’s Scientific Advisory Board which may see Professor Prince’s expertise on Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies be capitalised on by Prescient for future developments.
The company may also see some significant tailwinds out from the USA after the US patent and Trademark Office issued a notice of allowance for a new patent which may prove significant in identifying patients for the PTX-100.
Lastly, the Company’s collaboration with the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunology to evaluate two Prescient assets for Australia’s national SARS-CoV2 antiviral testing program has delivered inconclusive results. However, both Doherty Institute and Prescient are extending the testing program with amendments made to study designs.
