Evgen Pharma targets cancer stem cells to reverse the resistance to hormone treatment seen in ER+ breast cancer

Evgen Pharma, a clinical stage drug development company focused on cancer and neurological conditions, will showcase the results of mechanistic studies into its lead compound SFX-01, in breast cancer at the UK Interdisciplinary Breast Cancer Symposium 2018, Manchester.

Evgen noted that the studies used patient samples and patient-derived tumour models to show that SFX-01 targets cancer stem cells (CSC) in early and metastatic breast cancers and has the potential to overcome resistance to endocrine treatment in oestrogen-receptor positive (ER+) breast cancers. The company pointed out that the studies also showed that SFX-01 potently suppressed the elevated levels of phospho-STAT3 seen after endocrine treatment. Investigations are continuing into the role of STAT3 signalling effectors as part of this mechanism of action.

The poster concludes that the study data “demonstrate the potential of SFX-01 for clinically meaningful improvements to endocrine therapy in ER+ breast cancer by reversing CSC-mediated resistance”, Evgen announced.

The lead authors of the poster are Dr Bruno Simões and Dr Rob Clarke. Dr Clarke, who led the studies, is a Reader in Breast Biology and is the Director of the Manchester Breast Cancer Now Research Unit at the University of Manchester.

Steve Franklin, CEO of Evgen Pharma, said: “We are very excited by this data, which provides further evidence that SFX-01’s mechanism of action is to target cancer stem cells to reverse the resistance to hormone treatment seen in ER+ breast cancer. I would like to thank Dr Clarke and his team for their on-going work on SFX-01. The team’s work highlights the effect of SFX-01 on STAT3, which is well known to play a key role in tumour renewal and metastases.

“This mechanistic work supports our on-going Phase II clinical trial of SFX-01 in metastatic breast cancer patients. We look forward to reporting an interim update from the Phase II trial in the first half of this calendar year followed by the final read-out around the year-end.”