9 February 2018 - - Los Angeles, California-based oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company CytRx Corp.'s (NASDAQ: CYTR) aldoxorubicin licensee, NantCell, Inc. has dosed the first patient in the Phase 1b portion of a Phase 1b/2 clinical trial for patients with advanced squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the head and neck, the company said.
This is the second trial conducted by NantCell which will investigate high-affinity natural killer cell therapy in combination with anti-cancer agents, including aldoxorubicin, in certain high unmet need cancer indications.
The QUILT-3.090 trial is a single-center, open-label, Phase 1b/2 clinical trial designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of several combination therapies, including combinations with aldoxorubicin, in subjects with SCC who have progressed on or after platinum-based chemotherapy and anti-PD1/PD-L1 therapy. This trial is expected to enroll approximately 65 patients.
NantCell is a private subsidiary of NantWorks, LLC. Aldoxorubicin, CytRx's most advanced drug conjugate, is an improved version of the widely used anti-cancer drug doxorubicin, has been out-licensed to NantCell.
CytRx specialises in research and clinical development of novel anti-cancer drug candidates that employ linker technologies to enhance the accumulation and release of drug at the tumor.
The company is also expanding its pipeline of ultra-high potency oncology candidates at its laboratory facilities in Freiburg, Germany, through its LADR (Linker Activated Drug Release) technology platform, a discovery engine designed to leverage its expertise in albumin biology and linker technology for the development of a new class of anti-cancer therapies.