Challenge:

Alacrita was engaged by a strategic investor to conduct initial due diligence on a new EGFR therapeutic strategy in oncology.

Solution:

The product was at an early stage yet to reach IND-enabling studies. Alacrita’s oncology expert consultant, with 35 years experience of oncology drug discovery and early clinical development, reviewed the data available, both published and unpublished, and interviewed the client to clarify his understanding of the dataset.

We found there was a strong rationale for the biological target and the work product by the originating scientific team was of high quality. The in vivo efficacy data was solid, but additional work was needed. We set out some recommendations for further in vivo efficacy studies to further derisk the product. The competitive landscape was crowded, with numerous approved EGFR-targeting agents on the market and in development. It was unclear whether the agent would demonstrate toxicity and there were limited preclinical options to explore the toxicology before clinical trials.