LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Liquid biopsy specialist Angle announced on Friday that its Parsortix system played a pivotal role in groundbreaking breast cancer research published in Nature Medicine by a team led by professor Nicola Aceto at ETH Zurich.
The AIM-traded firm said the study, an interventional phase one clinical trial, investigated the use of the FDA-approved drug digoxin in treating metastatic breast cancer patients.

It said the Parsortix system was instrumental in selecting patients for the trial by detecting circulating tumour cell (CTC) clusters - groups of two or more tumour cells travelling together in the bloodstream.

That approach reportedly enabled researchers to enrol only those patients likely to benefit from digoxin, which had demonstrated the ability to dissociate metastatic CTC clusters in preclinical studies.

The company said the trial achieved its primary endpoint, showing a significant reduction in CTC cluster size among treated patients.

It explained that the proof-of-concept study was seen as a key step toward the development of a new class of drugs aimed at preventing or suppressing metastasis.

The research also further reinforced the potential of Angle's Parsortix system in both preclinical and clinical applications, the board added, including patient selection and dose optimisation.

Professor Aceto, whose lab had been using the Parsortix system extensively, had also co-founded Page Therapeutics to advance the development of novel compounds designed to disrupt CTC clusters.

Angle said it anticipated that its technology would play a critical role in the ongoing development and clinical evaluation of the new therapies.

"We are delighted to report on this first-in-class treatment approach reported by the Aceto Lab which has the potential to significantly reduce the burden of metastatic disease and improve patient outcomes," said the company's chief scientific officer Karen Miller.

"Given its unique design and ability to capture CTC clusters, we anticipate that the Parsortix system will be a crucial component for the development of drugs targeting the metastatic cascade by facilitating the selection of patients who are most likely to respond to treatment and allow continuous monitoring to determine the pharmacodynamic effects of the drugs.

"Alongside our ongoing collaboration with ETH Zurich, we look forward to working with Page Therapeutics to support their development drugs targeting metastatic spread."

At 1032 GMT, shares in Angle were up 4.39% at 12.53p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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