Repeated Alpha1H treatments creates long-term protection against bladder tumor growth in mice
Today Hamlet Pharma is proud to announce new treatment advances in an experimental model of bladder cancer.
A potent treatment effect of Alpha1H has previously been reported in mice with bladder cancer. We now show that continued treatment can provide long-term protection as well. Repeated treatment prevented tumor growth and the bladders remained similar to the control group without tumors.
In contrast, mice treated with placebo showed rapid tumor progression and severe disease after 12 days. The first round of Alpha1H treatment prevented tumor development for 4 weeks and long-term protection was achieved when treatment was repeated at 4-week intervals, as evidenced by marked differences in tumor size, pathology score, biomarkers and gene expression.
Cancer is often a chronic condition and several rounds of treatment are usually necessary. The results presented here suggest that repeated Alpha1H treatment regimens may be beneficial to ensure long-term protection against bladder cancer. This needs further validation in future clinical trials.
‘’Repeated treatment rounds appeared to maintain a high degree of protection against tumor progression in mice’’, says Catharina Svanborg, CMO and chairman of the board of Hamlet Pharma Ltd.
‘’This information is important for the design of future clinical trials’’, says Mats Persson, CEO of Hamlet Pharma Ltd.
This disclosure contains information that Hamlet is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation (EU nr 596/2014). The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person, on 18-03-2021 08:45 CET.
For more information, please contact
Catharina Svanborg, Chairperson of the board, Hamlet Pharma, +46 709 42 65 49
Mats Persson, CEO Hamlet Pharma, +46 705 17 67 57
About HAMLET Pharma
HAMLET Pharma, listed on Spotlight, develops drugs based on the unique tumoricidal protein-lipid complex, HAMLET, formed by two natural and harmless molecules found in breast milk. Development focuses primarily on drugs, for the treatment and prevention of cancer. HAMLET kills tumour cells and has proven safe in proof-of-concept studies in animal models. Alpha1H is the synthetic variant of HAMLET, which has enabled development of the agent for clinical trials. Alpha1H kills different types of tumour cells and has demonstrated therapeutic effects on bladder cancer in animal models. Hamlet Pharma has one ongoing Phase I/II clinical trial with Alpha1H in patients with bladder cancer, a costly form of cancer that is difficult to treat, and intends to expand its activities into other types of cancer. The first results from the ongoing clinical Phase I/II study shows no side effects of Alpha1H, indicating that the treatment is safe and well tolerated. Alpha1H also demonstrated clinical efficacy compared with patients who received placebo. In addition, Hamlet Pharma develops BAMLET, which is a molecular complex formed by bovine α-lactalbumin and oleic acid. Data from animal models suggest that local BAMLET treatment may be effective against colon cancer.
The project is coordinated by Prof. Catharina Svanborg and CEO Mats Persson of Hamlet Pharma. This project is funded from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 954360.