Oncomatryx Biopharma has been working since 2010 on the preparation of drugs that fight tumour stroma so that the treatments reach the tumour fully and destroy it

Why are some tumours cured for the vast majority of patients while for others there are no effective treatments? It is an issue that we have all paid attention more or less consciously and to which scientists have devoted enormous efforts and resources. One of the main hypotheses, supported by numerous empirical evidences, is that the different parts (cell types) that make up tumours have a direct relationship with the degree of effectiveness of the treatment to cure a certain kind of cancer.

There are some tumours that grow protected by a barrier of cells that are not the tumour itself and that, in addition to promoting its expansion, hinder the treatments from reaching the tumour fully: this is the so-called tumour stroma. Taking this as a basis, in 2010 Oncomatryx Biopharma began its activity with the objective of attacking the tumour stroma, to allow the treatments to reach the tumour fully and kill it.

Tumour stroma

In order to destroy the tumour stroma, Oncomatryx has developed a series of compounds called antibody-drug-conjugates (ADC). This new generation of drugs are the result of the union of an antibody, which acts as a guide, just carrying the compound inside the cells of the stroma and a chemical molecule that is released once it is inside them and; and then, it eliminates them. The use of these elements specifically directed against a type of “target cells” minimizes side effects and toxicity to healthy cells, one of the great problems of current treatments.

After years of development and excellent results in “in vitro” and “in vivo” models, Oncomatryx is now in a position to start the validation phases of the same in human patients, an essential previous step to be able to make available to patients these new treatments regularly. To begin this clinical validation, and to take care of patients’ safety, regulatory agencies require any new drug to carry out a series of trials under conditions defined by these same agencies: it is the so-called preclinical regulatory.

Preclinical phase

The pre-clinical regulatory phase involves an investment of several million euros. “Our forecast is an expense of 4.500.000 euros in R&D that is added to the 8.000.000 euros invested till today”, they indicate from Oncomatryx. The company has solved its financing through the entry of capital via new investors. In this sense, the managers of the company consider that “Seed Capital‘s contribution came in three years ago; their experience and rigor when choosing in which companies and projects to invest its resources, has been fundamental for our company, not only in the economic sense, but also as an endorsement to the viability of the project and reinforcement of the confidence of other potential investors”.

“With the funds for the development of the preclinical phase and the first clinical phase guaranteed thanks to the investors who have entered the share capital of Oncomatryx Biopharma – they point out – the steps we are taking are leading us to obtain the authorization from the regulatory agencies to start safety and efficacy tests in human patients in the next 18 months”. The release to the “market” will happen once the phase of clinical trials in humans is finished; this is highly variable, but a realistic estimation could be between 3 and 5 years after starting it.