Kazia Therapeutics Ltd (ASX:KZA, NASDAQ:KZIA) has expanded its Phase 2 study investigating the effect of paxalisib on diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) and other diffuse midline gliomas (DMGs), internationally to include two new sites in Australia.
This is the first time the oncology-focused drug development company’s paxalisib treatment has been the subject of a clinical trial in Australia.
Read: Kazia Therapeutics welcomes presentation of positive paxalisib data at international symposium
The company says recruitment for the study, which is sponsored by the Pacific Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium, has been robust since it opened to patients in November 2021, with nine trial sites open across the United States and two in Australia.
“We are very pleased with progress in the study,” said Kazia Therapeutics CEO Dr James Garner.
“Brain cancer is the leading cause of childhood cancer death and DMGs represent one of the most challenging types of tumour.
“The preclinical data supporting the combination of paxalisib and ONC201 is substantial and persuasive. We look forward to seeing initial data from this ongoing clinical study next year.”
Diffuse midline gliomas
DMGs are a group of childhood central nervous system tumours that begin in the brain and spinal column, representing about 15% of brain tumours in children.
Life expectancy from diagnosis is very low at about 9-11 months, especially as the disease currently has no FDA-approved drug treatments.
The ongoing PNOC022 study (NCT05009992) combines paxalisib with ONC201, an experimental dopamine receptor D2 (DRD2) antagonist manufactured by Chimerix Inc.