RE: MTPH9 Oct 2020 12:21
I know I, and others, keep saying it, but news is due – so it might be worth waiting to see what is released. Although news could come on several developments, I’ll just focus on two aspects that we should get updates on:
(1) The dose, safety and tolerability data for MTX110. Research has shown that the growth of DIPG tumour cells is associated with the activity of enzymes called histone deacetylases (HDACs). The active ingredient in MTX110, panobinostat, is a HDAC inhibitor. A study of 83 drugs showed that panobinostat was one of the most effective drugs against DIPG cells. It will be interesting to find out how the drug has performed in the San Francisco trial.
(2) Q-Sphera formulations. They now have seven formulations. Last year they had one, MTD201, and the clinical data for it was very promising. They just couldn’t get the money to complete it because of the pandemic. At the webinar, Stamp said that MTD201:
“ …has served a very useful purpose for demonstrating the characteristics and opportunities the Q-Sphera technology offers in humans, and that frankly is invaluable and without that data, I don't believe we'd have a cat in hell’s chance of getting a licensee for any of these other molecules that we are working on because it is very much a proof-of-concept, proof-of-principle.”
Three of the formulations are already partnered and it should not take too long to get them to the proof-of-concept stage. Regarding this, Stamp said:
“And until you achieve proof-of-concept, you're unlikely to get a multimillion dollar license fee out of a partner. So, having said all of that, our target is to land our first licence fee in the first quarter of next year.”
Midatech’s first strategy of inorganic growth in the US was a complete failure – and a dark cloud of possible administration has hung over the company for many years. They now have a 12 month cash runway which should allow the dark cloud to lift and provide enough time for the Q-Sphera tech to shine.
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