Race Oncology Ltd (ASX: RAC) shares have opened more than 20% higher after the company released positive cancer research data.
The company's stock reached $3.74 in early trading, up 20.2%, marking a new high for the year and a three-year high.
Race Oncology shares have more than tripled over the past 12 months, up from lows of just 92 cents.
The company said in an announcement to the ASX on Thursday that it had discovered the primary mechanism of action of a compound – (E,E)-bisantrene, or RCDS1.
As the company explains:
Scientific studies undertaken by Race Oncology and collaborators have identified the anticancer activity of RCDS1 predominantly results from binding and stabilising of important regulatory DNA and RNA structures called G-quadruplexes (G4) which (Are) found throughout the human genome. G4 sequences form 3-dimensional structures that regulate the expression and translation of many genes involved in causing cancer.
Race Oncology Managing Director Dr Daniel Tillett said it was an important milestone for the company.
The discovery (E,E)-bisantrene acts primarily by binding to G4-DNA and RNA structures, and not like the chemotherapeutic doxorubicin, fundamentally changes our thinking on how to best use this drug in the clinic. Bisantrene continues to surprise, and we look forward to building on this mechanism of action discovery in our future clinical and commercial plans.
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New techniques shedding light
Race Oncology said research into bisantrene had been effectively ended in the late 1980s, and there was little understanding of how the compound interacted with DNA.
The company decided to use more modern science to assess the compound, and initially studied RCDS1 "across a large and diverse panel of cancer cells using an extensive array of both historical and modern anticancer drugs''.
The discovery of the primary anticancer mechanism of action of RCDS1 provides several benefits. Knowing how an anticancer drug works at the molecular level makes it much simpler to identify the cancer types (or sub-types) that are most likely to respond to the drug. This knowledge extends to aiding the identification of drug combinations that are likely to be synergistic when used together.
This means that rather than having to "blindly test millions of possible combinations of different drugs in hundreds of cancer types", a more targeted approach to selecting the best drug combinations and cancers to treat could be taken.
Knowing the mechanism of action would also make it easier to attract a large pharmaceutical company into a partnership, Race Oncology said.
Additional preclinical studies would now be carried out, as well as work to identify the most valuable commercial market opportunity for RCDS1.
