Patrys granted Australian patent for Deoxymab platform with nanoparticles to deliver anti-cancer drugs

Therapeutic antibody development company Patrys (ASX: PAB) has been granted an Australian patent covering the use of its novel Deoxymab platform conjugated to nanoparticles (NP) for the targeted delivery of anti-cancer drugs.

The patent is the first of its kind for the local market and covers the use of Deoxymab antibodies PAT-DX1 and PAT-DX3 with nanoparticles for the diagnosis and treatment of multiple types of cancer.

The PAT-DX1 antibody is unique in its ability to bind to the DNA released from many solid cancers which results from the high turnover of cells in solid tumours.

Broad-spectrum targeting

Chief executive officer Dr James Campbell said Deoxymab plus nanoparticles could be used as a broad-spectrum targeting agent for a range of cancers, regardless of their origin and type.

“We have combined this tumour-targeting approach with nanoparticles that are able to carry a payload of drugs which are toxic to the cancer,” he said.

“This combination allows us to specifically deliver anti-cancer drugs to multiple cancers while having minimal impact on normal, healthy cells in the body.”

Unusually for an antibody, PAT-DX1 is also able to cross the blood brain barrier and potentially reduce tumour size, allowing it to be considered for use in in patients with glioblastoma (primary brain cancer) or metastases which have spread to the brain from diagnoses such as breast cancer.

“We believe the tumour-agnostic nature of the PAT-DX1-NP technology positions it well for a range of therapeutic applications in difficult-to-treat cancers, and we are actively exploring several of these,” Dr Campbell said.

Mouse model antibody

Patrys’ Deoxymab platform is based on the Deoxymab 3E10 antibody first identified in a mouse model of the human disease systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

While most antibodies bind to cell surface markers, 3E10 penetrates into the cell nuclei and binds directly to DNA where it inhibits repair processes.

Cancer cells often have high levels of mutations and underlying deficiencies in DNA repair mechanisms and it is for these reasons that the additional inhibition of DNA repair processes by 3E10 can kill cancer cells, but appears to have little impact on normal cells.

As a single agent, Deoxymab 3E10 has been shown to significantly enhance the efficacy of chemotherapies and radiotherapies.

It can also be conjugated to nanoparticles to target delivery of chemotherapeutics and imaging agents to tumours.

Global licence

Patrys’ rights to Deoxymab 3E10 are part of a global licence to develop and commercialise a portfolio of novel anti-DNA antibodies and antibody fragments, variants and conjugates discovered at Yale University to be anti-cancer and diagnostic agents.

Five patents covering the unconjugated form of Deoxymab 3E10 (and derivatives thereof) have already been granted in Europe, Japan, China, and the US, and join the latest Australian patent covering nanoparticle conjugation.

Patrys has a string of granted or pending patents in major jurisdictions where future regulatory approvals and product sales are targeted.

The company currently has more than 19 applications pending across 10 patent families.