Kancera applies for clinical trial approval

Kancera has applied for approval of a Phase I trial for its drug candidate, KAND567, which blocks the fractalkine system. The study will be performed in collaboration with the clinical contract company QPS in the Netherlands.

In the clinical study, the drug candidate will be administered to 80 patients, initially as a single dose and then in multiple doses. Its aim will be to evaluate KAND567 in healthy volunteers to determine the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of the drug as well as its interaction with food and absorption into the body.

KAND567 blocks the fractalkine receptor, CX3CR1, and has been shown to be effective against inflammation and pain in multiple preclinical disease models. Fractalkine is an immune-modulating factor that transmits signals via the CX3CR1 receptor, thereby controlling the function of immune cells and cancer cells. It has been shown that the levels of fractalkine molecules and CX3CR1 receptors are raised in several inflammatory diseases, cancer and chronic pain conditions.

Kancera is currently developing drugs for the treatment of leukaemia and solid tumours based on blocking survival signals in the cancer cell and on addressing cancer metabolism.