It is the disease that cost more than 8 million people their lives in 2012 and sees 14 million diagnosed every year. It comes in many forms and there is no cure — yet. Part of the problem in finding a cure is that while scientists used to think they knew how cancer operated, it is only in the last decade that they have been able to better understand this insidious disease. Cancer is much more complex than originally thought. But one company thinks it may have a solution. Propanc Health Group Corporation (OTCB: PPCH) is focusing on developing treatments for cancer patients suffering from solid tumors such as pancreatic, ovarian, and colorectal cancers.
Up until recently, the company had four patent applications for its lead product, PRP, a proenzyme, anti-cancer compound which targets cancer stem cell eradication while sparing normal stem cells. Now the company has added two more to its portfolio.
“I have no doubt PRP represents a new therapeutic drug class with significant potential [because] when confirming PRP’s effectiveness across a broad range of cancers, we also confirmed a synergistic response between the two proenzymes to the majority of cancer cell lines tested,” says Dr. Julian Kenyon, Propane’s Chief Scientific Officer. “We also noticed that for some cancer types, multiple combinations of the two proenzymes proved to be effective.”
Propanc recently met with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to discuss formal pre-clinical and clinical development of PRP. In addition, the company said it intends to apply for orphan drug designation for pancreatic and ovarian cancers in the US and Europe in the near future.
With the advent of five new patents, this biotech company is catching the eye of investors. In March 2016, Propanc received more than $1 million from an institutional investor for the purpose of fast-tracking its pre-clinical activities, bringing its received total to approximately $3.6 million.
According to Global Analyst Reports, the combined world market for pancreatic, ovarian and colorectal cancers is expected to reach more than $12 billion by 2020.