Benitec Biopharma this week announced that it intends to move its non-small cell lung cancer drug candidate Tribetarna into clinical trials following positive preclinical data generated in collaboration with the Children’s Cancer Institute Australia.
The company said it will use a clinical research organization to manage a planned phase I/IIa study of the expressed RNAi drug, which could begin in the fourth quarter of 2014.
Start of that trial, however, will depend on Benitec obtaining needed funding, it said.
In April, the company announced that Tribetarna, which beta III tubulin, boosted the survival of an orthotopic mouse cancer model when used in combination with chemotherapy, compared with chemotherapy alone (GSN 4/11/2013).