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news.Panacea Pharmaceuticals has closed its Series E financing for a total of $15m and is in a strong position to complete the Phase 1 clinical study of its lead cancer immunotherapeutic drug, as well as pursuing its late-stage pre-clinical candidates toward integrated cancer management.
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The company has also secured an additional $2 million optional financing commitment in this series.
Panacea Pharmaceuticals chairman & CEO/CSO Hossein Ghanbari said: "Our lead drug candidate, our late-stage pipeline of pre-clinical candidates, as well as our cancer diagnostic products, constitute Panacea Pharmaceuticals’ integrated cancer management program. We are delighted to have sufficient funding to enable us to pursue this program.
Panacea Pharmaceuticals’ lead drug candidate is a nanoparticle-based anti-cancer therapeutic vaccine. This targeted drug candidate enables the immune system to control cancer cells by enhancing patients’ antibody and cellular defense mechanisms solely against cancer cells.
In several animal models (mouse and rat) of aggressive liver, breast, and prostate cancers, it has significantly inhibited tumor growth, decreased tumor size, increased survival, and inhibited metastasis. Our therapeutic vaccine dosage is at microgram level and is delivered intradermally using 3M’s Hollow Microstructured Transdermal System.
The company has met with FDA earlier in the year to discuss a pre-IND submission that included the manufacturing, animal toxicology and human trial strategies for the vaccine.
Based on the outcome of this meeting, the company is targeting 1st quarter 2016 to file an IND. Upon regulatory review, Panacea plans to initiate the Phase 1 clinical study in cancer patients in the 2nd quarter of 2016.