Kazia Therapeutics Ltd (ASX:KZA, NASDAQ:KZIA) has taken the next step to explore the use of its lead asset paxalisib in other cancer indications, a departure from the company’s traditional focus on brain cancers, according to Edison Investment Research Ltd.
The investment firm's view is based on the research collaboration between the pharmaceutical company and QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute to investigate the efficacy of paxalisib in solid tumours, announced recently.
This collaboration with the Australia-based cancer research centre will build on previously-conducted research, including the potential use of paxalisib as an immune modulator in solid tumours.
“We note that the company recently announced encouraging data in a pre-clinical melanoma study, highlighting Kazia’s growing focus on exploring indications other than brain cancer and brain metastases, following the recent setback in the GBM AGILE study, where paxalisib was unsuccessful in graduation to stage 2 of the Phase III trial,” Edison’s analysts wrote in a research update.
The following are excerpts from the research report:
Paxalisib is an inhibitor of phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K), which, unlike typical drugs in the class, can cross the blood-brain barrier. Paxalisib is Kazia’s most clinically advanced asset. An ongoing Phase III study in glioblastoma, GBM AGILE, did not graduate to an expansion stage, but the first stage of approximately 150 patients remains ongoing, with final data expected in H2 CY23.
Paxalisib is also being evaluated in seven other ongoing investigator-sponsored clinical trials, both in primary brain cancers (diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, DIPG, and primary central nervous system lymphoma) and secondary cancers that have metastasised to the brain.
The pre-clinical collaboration with QIMR Berghofer is led by Professor Sudha Rao and is focused on assessing the effectiveness of PI3K inhibition as a potential immune modulator of the tumour microenvironment.
If confirmed, it could pave the way for usage of paxalisib as a combination treatment with checkpoint inhibitors such as Keytruda (pembrolizumab, Merck) and Opdivo (nivolumab, Bristol Myers Squibb) in solid tumours such a breast and lung cancers.
Results from the research are expected to be published in H1 CY23 with the possibility of progressing to the clinic in CY23, provided the preclinical data is encouraging.
Initial in-vitro findings are encouraging, with paxalisib demonstrating inhibition of both the primary tumour and metastasis by boosting the immune response within the tumour microenvironment.