Products and Technology

We are developing a new class of naturally occurring compounds that we believe have the potential to treat certain skin cancers and pre-cancerous lesions, while addressing some of the limitations of existing treatment alternatives. These compounds are small molecules that we extract and purify from Euphorbia peplus , a rapidly growing, readily-available plant commonly referred to as petty spurge or radium weed. The sap of E. peplus has a long history of traditional use for a variety of conditions, and particularly topical self-treatment of various skin disorders, including skin cancer. We refer to our lead compound derived from E. peplus as PEP005 (ingenol mebutate), or PEP005.

Mechanism of action (MOA)

In our preclinical studies for PEP005, we have observed that the topical application of PEP005 has two distinct and complementary mechanisms of action.

1. The rapid swelling of mitochondria in the tumour cells, ultimately resulting in necrosis, or tumour cell death.
2. Activation of the body’s immune system, causing neutrophils, a type of white blood cell, to infiltrate the treated site. The white blood cells activated as a result of PEP005 treatment appear to target and destroy any residual tumour cells, which appears to limit or prevent relapse of tumours.

Clinical summary

Our lead product candidate, for which we recently commenced a Phase III clinical trial, is a patient-applied topical gel for the treatment of AK. We are also developing a topical gel for the treatment of superficial BCC. We also intend to evaluate the utility of PEP005 in a topical formulation for treating other skin disorders, including nodular BCC, SCC and cutaneous warts.