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| Alpha Cancer Technologies' ACT-901 as a targeted delivery approach for a tumor showing AFP receptors--Courtesy of Alpha |
The U.K.'s PolyTherics, now merged with Antitope to pool their resources in R&D, announced that it would also collaborate with Canadian company Alpha Cancer Technologies, which has a drug delivery platform called alpha fetoprotein (AFP) designed to enhance chemotherapy.
According to the companies, AFP acts as a shuttle which binds to receptors that are highly present on cancer cells and less so on healthy cells. The platform has undergone early- and midstage trials, and the company's ACT-901 is designed to deliver the cancer drug paclitaxel to ovarian tumors.
PolyTherics' ThioBridge technology is an antibody-drug conjugate designed to optimize target therapies, and the London-based company is now on a kick partnering with companies that can make that product more marketable in the long run. Its merger with Antitope led to the creation of the combined company Abzena, which is looking to Cambridge for headquarters space.
"We are excited to be working with [Alpha] and to be a part of the renaissance in interest in AFP as a delivery platform and look forward to helping produce better drug conjugates to treat cancer," Abzena CEO John Burt said in a statement.
Alpha CEO Igor Sherman added: "This technology represents an exceptional strategic fit for ACT in our efforts to bring forward targeted cancer treatments which have the potential to significantly improve cancer care for many patients."
- here's the release