Amplia Therapeutics secures renowned oncology drug development expert as clinical advisor

Amplia Therapeutics (ASX: ATX) has appointed experienced spearhead of pancreatic cancer treatments Dr José Iglesias as clinical advisor to assist with development of its cancer and fibroid drugs.

The company pointed out that Dr Iglesias was responsible for developing Abraxane, which is the cornerstone for the current standard of care in advanced pancreatic cancer.

This drug was also the first clinical indication of Amplia’s focal adhesion kinase inhibitor AMP945 treatment.

Amplia said having Dr Iglesias on board as clinical advisor would provide access to his “extensive experience” and assist with developing new oncology drugs.

Dr Iglesias has more than 30 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry and has focused on creation of new oncology drugs.

“Dr Iglesias’ extensive experience in the clinical development of new oncology drugs will be invaluable as we run our phase 2 clinical trial of AMP945 in pancreatic cancer patients starting early next year,” Amplia chief executive officer and managing director John Lambert said.

“Dr Iglesias’ extensive experience in leading the development of the current standard of care, to which we plan to add AMP945, will be particularly relevant and will greatly enhance our ability to both run the trial and interpret the emergent clinical data.”

Urgent need in pancreatic cancer treatments

Commenting on his new role with Amplia, Dr Iglesias said he was “very pleased” to be working on the “exciting new approach” to tackle pancreatic cancer.

He noted that pancreatic cancer continued to be a “devastating” and “poorly managed” disease that new approaches to treatment including Amplia’s AMP945 are “urgently required”.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most deadly cancers with a five year survival rate of 5-10%.

The only potential cure is surgical removal, but only 20% of patients are eligible for this path. The remaining patients either have localised non-resectable or metastatic disease.

First-line therapy in patients that can’t have surgery is chemotherapy with either gemcitabine/Abraxane or FOLFIRINOX.

Additionally, only 40-50% of first-line patients are able to receive a second line therapy, and there is currently no available standard treatment for second line patients.

Amplia is advancing its FAK inhibitors to disrupt cancer defence mechanisms and make cancers more responsive to drugs.