Philochem launches tumor imaging study

Philochem, a biotech company based in Otelfingen near Zurich, and Blue Earth Diagnostics from Oxford are pressing ahead with the collaboration they entered into in March 2022 to develop and commercialize OncoFAP for positron emission tomography imaging. The partners have now announced that they have started their phase 1 clinical trial in Europe, in which up to 20 patients are to be enrolled. The first three of them were examined at the National Cancer Institute(Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori) in Milan in November.

Philochem is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Swiss-Italian Philogen Group from Siena. The group conducts its research activities at Philochem in Switzerland. Philogen's strategy is to selectively deliver bioactive agents to the site of the disease using antibodies or small organic ligands. Blue Earth Diagnostics is an indirect subsidiary of Milan-based Bracco Imaging, which focuses on molecular imaging.

Philochem and Bracco entered into a collaboration and license agreement for the development of OncoFAP in March 2022. This is a proprietary small organic ligand with ultra-high affinity for the fibroblast activation protein FAP, which is disproportionately present in 90 percent of cancers. OncoFAP has been "proven" to be able to selectively detect a range of metastatic solid tumors in cancer patients. The partners say that this will enable "unprecedented specificity and sensitivity for solid tumor imaging".

Philochem discovered and published the first paper on this important ligand for tumor targeting in 2021. "We believe," says Prof. Dr. Dario Neri, member of the Board of Directors of Philochem and CEO of the Philogen Group, "that the OncoFAP technology has the potential to pave the way for a new approach to tumor diagnostics and significantly improve diagnosis and informed management for patients with solid tumors." ce/mm