Published in the newspaper Deia 24 – 05 -2022

A new hope against cancer from Zamudio

VASCO-BASTIDOR COMPANY ONCOMATRYX, BASED IN ZAMUDIO, WILL START CLINICAL TESTING IN SEVEN HOSPITALS IN SPAIN AND THE UNITED STATES TO FIGHT METASTATIC SOLID TUMORS. THIS IS THE FIRST CONJUGATED ANTIBODY IN EUROPE THAT ATTACKS THE CELLS THAT SURROUND THE TUMOR

In the fight against cancer, every drug that comes out is a victory. This time it is Euskadi that emerges as the winner, as the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS) have approved the human clinical trial of a cancer therapy designed in our country.

The Basque company Oncomatryx, based in the Zamudio Technology Park, has obtained approval for clinical trials of cancer with metastasis and will test its anti-cancer antibody in eight hospitals in Spain and the United States.

It is a compound that specifically attacks the microenvironment surrounding invasive pancreatic, lung, and triple-negative breast tumors, the most aggressive ones, for which there is currently no effective treatment.

A NEW WAY TO FIGHT CANCER

The importance of the drug is vital since it opens a new avenue for attacking metastatic cancer. »When we proposed our thesis, the one of combating the microenvironment, it was almost anathema. Because it does not directly attack the tumor but aims to eliminate the tumor’s infantry. That is because the cells that surround it help it grow and expand. Moreover, these cells act as a shield, protecting the tumor from conventional antitumor treatments»

«The first step is getting rid of that microenvironment, but, secondly, we have also seen that it boosts our own immune system to attack the tumor,» highlighted Laureano Simón, founder and alma mater of Oncomatryx, a small biopharmaceutical company from Vizcaya that has forged a lot of international alliances to find the key that will allow tackling metastatic solid cancers that currently have an almost fatal prognosis.

After 15 years of very intensive work, the drug has achieved «excellent results» in animal models of triple-negative pancreatic, lung, and breast cancer, for which there is currently no effective treatment.

CLINICAL TESTS ON 20 VASCO-SPANISH PATIENTS

The clinical trials will be carried out on a total of 150 patients, about 20 of whom are from the Basque Country, men and women of all ages, provided that the oncologist determines that they are suitable for them and recommends it.

«We have verified that the efficacy of the compound is very high and it is very potent and safe in all metastatic stages,» says Simón, highlighting that targeting the tumor microenvironment is something completely new. In fact, in the tests with mice, the tumor completely disappeared. In this way, the biopharmaceutical company is tackling a milestone with the start of clinical trials of a conjugated antibody (ADC).

In his opinion, the ultimate goal would be to cure patients for whom there is currently no therapy. «The patients in the clinical trial will receive a treatment that could save their lives. But these tumors are so complex and dangerous that we would be satisfied with being able to prolong the lives of those people for a few years,» he explains. Because what is also the great advantage of this new conjugate is that it only attacks malignant cells and leaves the healthy cells unharmed. «It targets only those that play a decisive role in the tumor’s progression,» this scientist graphically explains.

WAITING FOR FOUR OR FIVE YEARS

Although we are talking about a great scientific achievement, since, for example, in pancreatic cancer only between 1% and 4% of the patients manage to survive five years after being diagnosed, it is necessary to lower expectations because there is still some time before the treatment is available for use. Clinical trials could last for two years and, if the results are very good, it could take another two or three years before it is on the market.

In Spain, approximately 8,700 cases of pancreatic cancer, 29,000 cases of lung cancer and 7,000 cases of triple-negative breast cancer are diagnosed annually.

To make all of this possible