Tarveda Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company discovering and developing Pentarins™ as a new class of potent and selective anti-cancer medicines, today announced that a Phase 1/2a clinical trial evaluating PEN-221 in patients with advanced neuroendocrine tumors and small cell lung cancer expressing the somatostatin receptor 2 (SSTR2) is underway, with patients enrolled and treated. The somatostatin receptor is highly expressed in neuroendocrine cancers. PEN-221 is a novel, miniaturized drug conjugate designed to selectively target SSTR2 and then internalize and release its potent DM1 payload in the tumor cell.
“Pentarins are engineered to rapidly penetrate and kill solid tumors that have proven challenging for treatment modalities such as antibody drug conjugates and chemotherapeutics,” said Gordon B. Mills, M.D., Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Systems Biology, at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX. “The miniaturized size, unique design and potent payloads of Pentarins allow for sustained payload release in solid tumors to drive potential efficacy while sparing normal tissue”.