November 3, 2015 — Australian immuno-oncology company Minomic International Ltd has struck an agreement to launch the first human study of its novel monoclonal antibody technology as an imaging agent to detect prostate, pancreatic and bladder cancers.
The company has signed a Heads of Agreement with Macquarie University Hospital (MUH) and Macquarie Medical Imaging (MMI) to examine the use of Minomic’s proprietary MIL-38 monoclonal antibody — already a centrepiece of its MiCheck novel prostate cancer diagnostic screening technology — as a new tool to enable better detection and targeted treatment of prostate and other cancers.
This first-in-human study will begin recruiting the first of 12 patients in Q1 2016, with the study expected to run during 2016.
Under study protocols, a team of investigators led by Profs. Howard Gurney and David Gillatt from MUH and Kevin Ho-Shon, Ph.D., of MMI, will examine a chimeric version of Minomic’s MIL-38 antibody conjugated with 67Gallium (MILGa) to image cancer metastases following ethics approval.
Investigators will evaluate the technology for safety, sensitivity and specificity of MILGa in these patients.
“We have had highly encouraging results in our preclinical animal studies. By formulating a chimeric version of the MIL-38 antibody, we are able to ensure a patient’s own immune system does not recognise our antibody as foreign. Our antibody will then seek out the target, which is a protein found on cancer cells. We will attach a payload to our antibody – either an existing drug or radiotherapy – so that our technology can be used to directly deliver the appropriate therapy to the tumour cell target for maximum impact. Following successful targeting to tumour metastases in this study the company intends to undertake a therapeutic trial,” said Minomic CEO Brad Walsh, Ph.D.
For more information: www.minomic.com
July 30, 2024 
