Immunolight Activates Cancer Therapy! FDA Grants Padeliporfin ImPACT Fast Track Qualification: Treatment of Upper Urethroid Skin Cancer (UTUC)!

January 18, 2021 // -- Steba Biotech, a Luxembourg-based biotechnology organization, is a pioneering developer of Immunolight Activated Cancer Therapy (ImPACT), which is working to develop a new cancer treatment platform that uses Padeliporfin ImPACT (Immune Light Activated Cancer Therapy) to treat a range of solid tumors.
recently, the company announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted fast-track eligibility (FTD) for the treatment of adult patients with low-level and single-urethroid cancer (UTUC).
follows the approval of the Research New Drug Application (IND) in December 2020 to allow the start of key Phase 3 clinical trials of Padeliporfin ImPACT in low-level UTUC patients, which is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2021.
Fast Track Qualification (FTD) is designed to accelerate drug development and rapid review for serious diseases to address critically unsolved medical needs in key areas.
's fast-track eligibility for experimental drugs means that pharmaceutical companies can interact more frequently with the FDA during the development phase, be eligible for accelerated approval and priority review if the relevant criteria are met after filing a listing application, and also be eligible for rolling review.
Steba biotech focuses on the development of Padeliporfin ImPACT as an innovative oncology platform with the potential to provide surgical-like efficacy and retain organs in UTUC and other solid tumors.
there are significant unsealed needs in these groups of high-risk surgical patients because surgery is not the preferred clinical option (e.g. delaying kidney loss) or the risk of surgery is too high.
ImPACT is Steba's innovative oncology platform, a novel, minimally invasitable, targeted treatment that has been approved in Europe, Israel and Germany for the treatment of patients with early stage prostate cancer.
this is a combination of drugs-devices, including light-activated drugs and light transfer systems.
treatment, the patient receives intravenous infusion of the inactive drug padeliporfin and locally activates it by accurately transmitting low-energy, non-thermal laser fibers.
activated, the drug quickly triggers blood supply contractions in the lighting area, causing targeted tumor necrosis, activating anti-tumor immunity, and enhancing cancer cell removal.
imPACT achieved exciting early results in a range of solid tumors, including UTUC, esophageal cancer, lung cancer, and more. Dr David Perry, head of research and development at Steba at
ImPACT (Picture: Steba), said: "At the moment, the medical needs in the UTUC field are difficult to meet because the clinical goal is to protect the patient's kidneys, so surgery is a last resort.
Good initial efficacy data from phase 1 clinical trials in UTUC patients, coupled with previous strong safety and efficacy data from prostate cancer, lead us to believe that Padeliporfin ImPACT has the potential to be a well-to-adaptive, safe and effective treatment for UTUC and other cancer adaptations.
"UTUC is a cancer that grows in the urotheliam, a thin, continuous layer of protective cells that grow along the ureter from the kidneys to the bladder or the kidney lining itself.
UTUC prevents urine from flowing out of the kidneys, leading to severe back pain, blood in the urine, possible in sight to the naked eye, and delaying diagnosis.
UTUC currently accounts for 5-10% of urinary cancers, but prognostics are worse than bladder cancers, and over time, the prognostics worsen, increasing the pressure on medical services.
() original source: FDA Grants Fast Track Designation to Padeliporfin ImPACT for Steba biotech