Scandion Oncology develops novel drugs that target molecular resistance mechanisms in cancer. The lead drug candidate SCO-101 reverses resistance to commonly used chemotherapeutic drugs. Scandion Oncology is presently enrolling metastatic colorectal cancer patients with drug-resistant disease into a clinical phase II study. Moreover, Scandion Oncology recently announced that it has applied for permission from the Danish Medicines Agency to initiate a second clinical study in pancreatic cancer patients who are starting chemotherapy. It is important to note that drug candidates being developed by Scandion Oncology are not cancer type specific; rather, they are meant to benefit any cancer patient presenting resistance to one or more currently-available therapeutic agents.
Endocrine treatment, which is treatment that abolishes stimulation of cancer cells by sex hormones, is frequently used in treatment of breast and prostate cancer. For breast cancer, a large proportion of the cancers are dependent on the female hormone estrogen for growth and dissemination. In accordance, breast cancer patients are often treated with antiestrogens, which abolish the growth-promoting effects of estrogens. However, women with metastatic breast cancer treated with antiestrogens will eventually acquire resistance to this treatment. Preclinical experiments performed by Scandion Oncology have shown that SCO-101 can reverse acquired antiestrogen resistance, but the mechanism of action is still unknown. The Eurostars grant will allow the Dutch partner at Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam to perform sophisticated molecular analyses to reveal how SCO-101 counteracts antiestrogen resistance. At the same time, Scandion Oncology will use the grant to initiate a clinical phase Ib study in which women with metastatic and antiestrogen-resistant breast cancer will be exposed to increasing doses of SCO-101 together with the standard dose of antiestrogens. In order to introduce personalized medicine in the project, the third partner, 2cureX, will use the grant to establish an assay to be used for selecting the best treatment for each patient.
Nils Brünner, CEO of Scandion Oncology comments: “Scandion Oncology will use the Eurostars grant to investigate an additional business opportunity for SCO-101. This opportunity to initiate preclinical and clinical studies with SCO-101 in antiestrogen-resistant breast cancer is very special to me. When I completed my postgraduate education in molecular and cellular biology at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, USA and at Georgetown University in Washington DC, USA back in 1987-1989, I had established the very first patient-derived antiestrogen-resistant breast cancer cells, and we at Scandion Oncology have actually used these cells together with antiestrogen resistant breast cancer cells obtained from a Danish colleague at the Danish Cancer Society to study the effects of SCO-101. Our CSO, Jan Stenvang is also very excited about the Eurostars grant, since he earned his PhD degree by studying antiestrogen resistance in breast cancer. I have been collaborating with the Rotterdam Group for the last 30 years, and we invited them to join the Eurostars application based on their worldwide recognition within preclinical breast cancer research. We also invited 2cureX to join the application, since 2cureX has developed the Functional Precision Medicinetest, IndiTreat, which can be used to select those patients that have the highest likelihood of benefitting from SCO-101 treatment. So, all in all, we have gathered a very strong team covering the most important aspects of our research on antiestrogen-resistant breast cancer. I feel totally confident that together, we will reach our goal – introduce a new and effective treatment to the tens of thousands of breast cancer patients who experience acquired antiestrogen resistance. We are thus approaching a medical problem with a high need for new treatment solutions. Having received the Eurostars grant and being in competition with several hundreds of other European applications, the grant provides Scandion Oncology with the blue stamp for quality.
For further information regarding Scandion Oncology, please contact:
Nils Brünner, CEO
Phone: +45 26 14 47 08
E-mail: nb@scandiononcology.com
This information is information that Scandion Oncology is obliged to publish in accordance to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was provided by the contact person above for publication on June 16, 2020.
Scandion Oncology A/S is a biotechnology company that addresses and targets one of the greatest challenges in modern oncology – the effective treatment of cancer which contains chemotherapy-resistant cells or which has developed resistance to a previously prescribed cancer-fighting drug. In preclinical in vitro studies, SCO-101 restores chemotherapy sensitivity in resistant cancer cells. Moreover, in animal studies, the company’s leading candidate drug, SCO-101, significantly enhances the efficacy of certain standard cancer treatments when given in combination. Scandion Oncology is now in clinical phase II trials with its lead compound, SCO-101, in patients with chemotherapy-resistant colorectal cancer. Scandion Oncology was listed on Spotlight Stock Market, Sweden in November 2018. For further information, please see: www.scandiononcology.com.