The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track designation to an investigational drug for the treatment of Glioblastoma (GBM), currently being developed by a US-based customer of Shilpa Medicare Ltd. This designation aims to expedite the development and review of drugs that treat serious conditions and fill unmet medical needs, potentially bringing new medicines to patients sooner.
The drug is currently in Phase 1A clinical trials, evaluating its safety and tolerability in patients with a range of solid tumors, including GBM. Plans are underway to initiate a Phase 1b/2a clinical trial in late 2024 or early 2025, specifically targeting recurrent GBM.
Addressing a Critical Unmet Need in Glioblastoma Treatment
Glioblastoma is a highly aggressive form of brain cancer, affecting approximately 13,000 individuals in the US and 300,000 worldwide each year. The disease is characterized by a high mortality rate, with current standard of care treatments extending life expectancy to less than 15 months.
A significant challenge in developing effective GBM therapies is the drug's ability to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and overcome the inherent resistance of GBM cells to existing treatments. This resistance is often linked to the expression of the DNA repair enzyme MGMT.
Novel Mechanism of Action
The investigational drug's activity is reportedly agnostic to MGMT expression, meaning its efficacy is not affected by the under- or over-expression of MGMT in GBM cells. Preclinical studies have demonstrated in-vivo activity in both MGMT-expressing and non-expressing GBM models. The drug exhibits synthetic lethality when combined with agents that induce DNA damage repair deficiency and has been shown to cause double-stranded DNA breaks in recurrent GBM cells in multiple in-vivo models.
Shilpa Medicare's Role
Shilpa Medicare, along with its subsidiary Shilpa Pharma Lifesciences Limited (SPL), is providing end-to-end solutions for the development of the API and formulation of this drug. The company has already completed the developmental quantities and is now working on GMP grade material. Shilpa is currently the sole partner collaborating with the customer on this project.
This marks the second CDMO contract for Shilpa where a partner has received Fast Track designation for its product, highlighting Shilpa's capabilities in developing complex molecules that address unmet patient needs.
