RE: 22/126 Jan 2026 15:13
Further to my comment on McNulty's Xcretion, some research shows that about 90% of cancers are indeed solid cancers and 10% are blood cancers. FAP is present in certain blood cancers, specifically within the tumor microenvironment of multiple myeloma, which accounts for ~10-15% of blood cancers. That puts the percentage of all cancers that could be treated with pre|CISION drugs at 82-82.5% if 90% of solid tumours express FAP. Definitely not to be sniffed at.
Doxorubicin is frequently used as a component of bridging therapy for multiple myeloma to control disease progression while CAR-T cells are being manufactured so AVA6000 (and why not other pre|CISION drugs?) could have a use there. In that podcast interview CC said: "Because FAP is expressed in every solid tumour, and by solid tumour I exclude what we would refer to as liquid or hematologic, so leukemias and lymphomas won't have any place with this platform, but every other cancer from brain cancer, head and neck cancers, salivary gland, breast cancer, pancreatic, if there's an organ with a cancer we can address it..."
Multiple myeloma is a distinct type of blood cancer that specifically affects plasma cells in the bone marrow, making it different from both leukemia (which typically starts in the blood/marrow) and lymphoma (which affects the lymphatic system) so it's unclear whether CC is excluding multiple myeloma as a pre|CISION-treatable cancer (by saying "liquid or hematologic [cancers]", which includes multiple myeloma) or not (by only mentioning leukemias and lymphomas).
Note though that CC said "Because FAP is expressed in every solid tumour" - "in EVERY solid tumour" - so I'm confused as to why Avacta have previously been saying FAP was expressed in 90% of solid tumours. Perhaps what was really meant previously was 'over-expressed in 90% of solid tumours', whilst CC was talking about FAP being expressed in all solid tumours but with very low, normal background expression in 10% of them. Who knows? But if pre|CISION can affect low FAP tumours, maybe it doesn't matter.