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SUDA Pharmaceuticals has news upcoming of material licensing and capital raising

Published: 14:52 01 Jun 2020 AEST

SUDA Pharmaceuticals Ltd - SUDA Pharmaceuticals has news upcoming of material licensing and capital raising
SUDA is encouraged by pharmacokinetic results evaluating anagrelide mouth spray

SUDA Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:SUD) (FRA:E4N) is in a trading halt with an announcement pending in relating to a material licensing transaction and a capital raising.

The ASX has granted the company back-to-back halts which will remain in place until the start of regular trading on Friday, June 5, 2020, or when an announcement is released to the market.

Shares last traded at 4.2 cents and are up from 3.8 cents at close on May 18.

Preliminary study results

The company has recently received preliminary results from a pharmacokinetic study evaluating novel mouth spray formulations of anagrelide, which is used to treat cancer.

This study involved comparing three different mouth spray formulations against the current commercial capsule in a canine model and was conducted by UK-based contract research organisation, Covance Inc.

Preliminary results from the crossover study using five animals suggest that one of the formulations was able to increase the bioavailability of anagrelide while reducing exposure to a cardio stimulatory metabolite.

This supports SUDA’s hypothesis that such a formulation could be more safely administered to cancer patients, potentially resulting in fewer cardiovascular side-effects.

SUDA will continue optimising the formulation to meet the requirements for a pharmaceutical-grade oral spray product before completing further preclinical testing.

Japanese patent accepted

The Japanese Patent Office has recently accepted SUDA’s patent application for anagrelide to treat cancer and the patent will proceed to grant.

This patent titled ‘Use of Anagrelide for Treating Cancer’ has an expiry date of December 2035.

Anagrelide is an FDA and EMA approved drug used to reduce elevated platelets and lower the thrombotic risk in myeloproliferative diseases associated with high platelet counts.

Recent research has demonstrated the proactive role that platelets play in facilitating the growth and spread of cancer, in addition to suppressing immune responses to cancer.

It has also been shown that cancer cells can trigger a negative feedback loop, sending out chemicals to signal to the body to produce more platelets.

Solid tumour types where increased platelet levels have been reported to occur in a significant proportion of the patient population include melanoma, mesothelioma, ovarian, vulvar, cervical, renal cell, lung, glioblastoma, pancreatic, endometrial and colorectal cancer.

“Step in the right direction”

Chief executive officer Dr Michael Baker said: “To have the Japanese Patent Office grant this patent is a great step in the right direction for the anagrelide program.

“With a population of almost 130 million people, a granted patent in Japan represents a significant market opportunity.

“In conjunction with our granted European patent, this further strengthens our ability to capture maximum value from the anagrelide program.”

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