Viralytics commences CAVATAK Bladder Cancer trial

THE ROADHOUSE PHARMACY: Viralytics Limited (ASX: VLA) has initiated a Phase 1 clinical trial of CAVATAK in patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC), also known as superficial bladder cancer.

The trial, titled the CANON (CAVATAK in Non-muscle invasive bladder cancer) study, has enrolled the first of an expected 30 to 40 patients in a two-part, open-label, dose-escalation study.

The trial will take place in the United Kingdom and is designed to evaluate the safety and tolerability of CAVATAK administered alone directly into the bladder, as well as in combination with the standard chemotherapy, mitomycin C.

The trial will also assess the pharmacodynamics of CAVATAK and document evidence of anti-tumour activity.

Viralytics described CAVATAK as an investigational cancer immunotherapy based on a proprietary cold virus that has been shown to preferentially infect and attack cancer cells.

The company claimed that in preclinical studies, the combination of CAVATAK and mitomycin C synergistically increased cancer-killing activity in bladder cancer cell lines.

“There is a real need for new therapies for bladder cancer that will improve the durability of response and reduce toxicities compared to current treatments,” Professor Hardev Pandha, principal investigator of the CANON study and director of the Surrey Cancer Research Institute at the University of Surrey said in Viralytics ASX announcement.

“Based on the promising preclinical performance of CAVATAK in our studies, we are keen to explore this novel treatment in human trials.”

Website: www.viralytics.com