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- Kazia Therapeutics (KZA) has enrolled the first patient into its phase two paxalisib study for primary central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma
- The study will be held at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Massachusetts and will be led by Lakshmi Nayak, the Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School
- Paxalisib was initially developed to treat glioblastoma, however the company is trialling it on other groups of patients who may benefit from the drug
- Kazia expects to recruit up to 25 patients in the clinical trial, which will take up to two years to complete
- Company shares are down 3.15 per cent and trading at $1.23 at 1.06 pm AEST
Kazia Therapeutics (KZA) has enrolled the first patient into a study trialling its paxalisib drug in primary central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma.
Lymphoma is a type of blood cancer that originates from the white blood cell involved in the immune system. Primary CNS lymphoma is a specific form of lymphoma that originates in the brain and central nervous system.
The phase two study will be carried out at the world-leading Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) in Massachusetts. The DFCI is a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School and participates in as many as 600 clinical trials at any given time.
“Our center has a strong research focus in primary CNS lymphoma. We are very interested to explore the potential for a brain-penetrant PI3K inhibitor in this disease,” Principal Investigator for the study Lakshmi Nayak said.
Dr Nayak is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and a board-certified neuro-oncologist. She has had many published works in the field of brain cancer with her research mainly focusing on metastatic brain cancer, glioblastoma, and primary CNS lymphoma.
“We are delighted to see this study underway and congratulate Dr Nayak and her team on getting it launched,” Kazia CEO Dr James Garner said. “With paxalisib now in an international pivotal study for glioblastoma, we are increasingly focused on identifying other groups of patients who may benefit from the drug.”
Paxalisib is Kazia’s lead investigational new drug which was developed to treat glioblastoma, the most common and most aggressive form of primary brain cancer in adults.
Significantly, this drug is the only PI3K inhibitor in mainstream development that’s able to penetrate the blood-brain barrier. As such, it has a unique rationale for development in primary CNS lymphoma.
Kazia expects to recruit up to 25 patients in the clinical trial which will take up to two years to complete.
Company shares are down 3.15 per cent and trading at $1.23 at 1:06 pm AEST.
