As cancer rates around the world climb for a range of reasons, one of the most active frontiers in the oncology space remains focused on a single branch of the disease: blood cancers, or haematology.
While cancer rates are rising – partly because human life expectancy is climbing, and partly due to harder-to-pin-down causes like toxicological exposures across society at large – blood cancers in particular, are on the rise in Australia.
In fact, just last year, Australia’s Leukaemia Foundation declared the incidence of blood cancer in Australia has increased by 80% since the early 2000’s, with that number only climbing.
In the foundation’s own words, “Australia’s losing the blood cancer fight.”
Why blood cancer interests scientists
While tumours are perhaps the most widely known type of cancers – or at least what probably comes to mind first when reminded of the term ‘cancer’ – blood cancers pose treatment difficulties that solid cancers don’t.
Whereas skin cancers and some types of tumours can be removed surgically, blood cancers spread throughout the body and, often, degrade the immune system over time until it fails.
That means blunt-force chemotherapy was long thought the only real treatment, but with every passing decade, medical science advances at a pace that rivals the cells it targets.
The American Society of Hematology cites research from Washington-based Blood Cancer United that over the life of modern blood cancer research, ’26 million years of life’ have been saved, according to a study published in Blood Advances.
And yet, there’s still so much more that needs to be done. While that study focused mainly on Hodgkin Lymphoma, there are other types of lymphomas which medical science is yet to find a serious defence against.
Enter ASX-listed Prescient Therapeutics
Australian investors are no strangers to biotech success stories, and of the potential candidates currently approaching major clinical milestones, ASX-listed Prescient Therapeutics (ASX: PTX) is nearing a pivotal review of its Phase 2a trial for PTX-100, scheduled before the end of this year.
Firmly among the ranks of companies and universities alike tackling the blood cancer challenge, Prescient is focused on one type of lymphoma that lacks the household name status of Hodgkins: a condition called Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma (CTCL).
According to world-leading medical body Mayo Clinic, CTCL is a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that begins when T-cells– a type of white blood cell central to the body’s immune system – mutate and turn cancerous. (T Cells are also known as T lymphocytes.)
Although CTCL can be categorised into several subtypes, it ultimately manifests on the skin while affecting the broader immune system – and in advanced cases, it can prove fatal. The disease can also cause tumours and lumps to form on the skin; however, because it is systemic rather than localised, surgical intervention is not enough to treat patients.
What does modern blood cancer treatment look like?
In a decisive move away from relying on blunt-force chemotherapy alone, players across haematology are shifting toward more targeted treatments for blood cancers.
These precision approaches ultimately seek to reduce the toll that chemotherapy takes on a patient’s quality of life, while targeting the root cause of blood cancers more aggressively in a bid to lessen the chance of recurrence.
Prescient Therapeutics (ASX: PTX) is attempting to do just that with its lead candidate PTX-100 which represents one of the more compelling therapies of the ASX.
In its Phase 1b trials, PTX-100 saw 100% of evaluable CTCL patients present with a halt or reversal of their cancer. On top of that, no drug-related serious adverse effects were reported.
Prescient’s Phase 2b trials could lead to commercial deal
Late-stage trials are usually seen as the true make-or-break moment for biotech companies, so it’s rare for a company to post such promising results as early as Prescient Therapeutics.
Currently in Phase 2a trials, the global study is recruiting patients across Australia, the US and Europe. 20 evaluable patients have been confirmed – 10 in each dosing arm – and represent a pre-specified threshold for the Dose Optimisation Committee review – which will meet in December 2026.
A strong showing from this review could be enough to put Prescient on the radar of the billion-dollar players seeking to acquire assets like PTX-100.
“We think we’re a natural fit for pharma looking for a differentiated drug, particularly focused on rare diseases, like CTCL,” Prescient Therapeutics CEO James McDonnell told HotCopper.
“As we progress toward a potential registrational study, that’s what makes an asset like ours attractive to the larger players in this space.”
US FDA already interested
Adding to the legitimacy of Prescient’s value proposition, the US FDA has already granted PTX-100 fast-track designation, a status intended to speed the development of drugs addressing serious conditions with unmet need.
The FDA and EMA have also awarded PTX-100 with Orphan Drug status, reserved for therapies targeting rare diseases that unlock benefit such as market exclusivity – and, with that, real commercial potential.
Worth noting at this point is that Prescient isn’t even at the Phase 3 stage yet. If the Phase 2a study goes well, the company has flagged, subject to regulatory approval, the potential for Phase 2b to serve as its registrational study and provide an accelerated path to market, bypassing the need for a separate Phase 3 trial
Which brings us to Prescient’s share-price potential, which within a sector with some headline-grabbing names, can fairly be described as overlooked.
At the time of writing, the company’s share price is up +65% over the past twelve months.
Even so, Prescient Therapeutics is a smallcap with a valuation of just ~$71M and a share price of ~6.8cps and about 1 billion shares on issue – relatively undiluted for a biotech, a sector that is notoriously loss-making, until a candidate succeeds.
A positive Phase 2a outcome could prompt a significant re-rating of Prescient shares and would strengthen the case for one of the more compelling – and arguably overlooked -cancer-treatment hopefuls currently listed on the ASX.
Click here to hear directly from PTX CEO James McDonnell in their upcoming Investor Briefing held by Reach Markets