Clarity Pharmaceuticals (ASX:CU6) has expanded its cancer treatment pipeline with the development of a novel radiopharmaceutical called "SAR-bisFAP".
This new product is designed for both diagnosis and treatment, and has possible "pan-cancer opportunity".
What's in a name?
Radiopharmaceuticals combine two components: a radioactive isotope and a targeting molecule. The targeting molecule directs the isotope to a specific site in the body, like a cancer cell or a tumour, while the isotope can be used to destroy or diagnose (for instance, they can be seen by a PET scan).
The isotope decays over time, becoming non-radioactive and being cleared from the body.
The "SAR" in SAR-bisFAP refers to Clarity's "Specific Activity Radiopharmaceutical" platform, which allows copper isotopes (copper-64 for imaging and copper-67 for therapy) to be efficiently attached to a targeting molecule.
The "FAP" stands for "Fibroblast Activation Protein". This is a type of protein found on fibroblasts (a type of connective tissue cell) associated with cancer.
FAP is present in a wide range of cancers, including breast, colorectal, pancreatic, lung, brain and ovarian cancers, but it isn't usually found in healthy tissue.
"Bis" refers to the fact that SAR-bisFAP has two binding sites. It can attach to two FAP molecules at once, which provides better ability for SAR-bisFAP to bind and stay bound. In Clarity’s preclinical trials, SAR-bisFAP showed 8x greater retention and 4x greater uptake compared to industry-standard compounds like FAPI-46.
Next steps
The company is conducting additional investigations to enable a Phase I clinical trial, which could start in late 2025.
Clarity’s development of SAR-bisFAP follows the success of its SAR-bisPSMA product for prostate cancer.
Shares in Clarity have jumped 16.49% to $5.37.
