Kintara Therapeutics says interim Phase 2 study data on VAL-083 shows its potential as game-changing treatment option for GBM patients

Kintara Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:KTRA) has announced interim data from two Phase 2 clinical trials of its lead compound, VAL-083 for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), which continue to demonstrate its potential as a "game-changing treatment option". The data were presented in two posters at the 2021 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting, which is taking place virtually from April 10 to April 15, 2021. READ: Kintara Therapeutics appoints Dr Mario Lacouture to its scientific advisory board for cutaneous metastatic breast cancer The first poster concerned the two patient groups receiving VAL-083 in an open-label, Phase 2 study in recurrent and adjuvant (after initial treatment) unmethylated GBM settings being conducted at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas. The second poster updated on the open-label, Phase 2 study of VAL-083 as a first-line treatment in newly-diagnosed, unmethylated GBM patients being conducted at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center in China. Saiid Zarrabian, Kintara's CEO, noted that both these trials provided valuable insights as the company prepares to initiate the VAL-083 arm of the Global Coalition for Adaptive Research GBM AGILE registrational study which began patient enrollment in February, 2021. Among the highlighted findings in the first poster was that in newly-diagnosed patients receiving VAL-083 as adjuvant therapy following treatment with radiation and temozolomide (TMZ), for the 33 efficacy evaluable patients (of a planned 36 ) as of the data cut-off of March 12, 2021, median progression-free survival (PFS) was 10 months (95% confidence interval (CI) 8.2 to 10.8 months). While not a head-to-head study, this data compares favorably to historical temozolomide (TMZ) control data of 5.3 months and 6.9 months, respectively. Meanwhile, in the second poster -  the open-label, Phase 2 study of VAL-083 as a first-line treatment in newly-diagnosed, unmethylated GBM patients - findings included that the median progression-free survival (PFS) for the 29 patients, as of the March 11, 2021 cut-off date, is currently 9.3 months (CI 6.4-12.0 months). San Diego-based Kintara is dedicated to the development of novel cancer therapies for patients with rare unmet medical needs. The biopharma group is currently developing two Phase 3-ready therapeutics, VAL-083 for GBM and REM-001 for cutaneous metastatic breast cancer (CMBC). Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com