Microcap biotech Moleculin Biotech, Inc.(NASDAQ:MBRX) is enjoying a good start to the trading day on Wednesday, with shares hitting their highest level since March 22 on a "significant discovery" of a metabolic inhibitor with the potential to treat pancreatic cancer.
Pancreatic cancer is a hard-to-diagnose disease due, in part, to the fact that tumors don't secrete hormones. This often results in late diagnoses and a five-year survival rate of a meager 5%. Considered a rare disease, 53,670 new cases are estimated for 2017, with an alarming number of deaths attributed to the disease, though, estimated at 43,090 for the year.
Today, Moleculin, who has yet to advance any drug candidates to human trials, said that lab studies show its compound dubbed WP1234 has shown an up to 50-fold improvement over traditional glycolysis inhibitors to kill pancreatic cancer cell lines.
The Houston-based company noted that WP1234 is a derivative of WP1122, a compound that had previously brought attention to Moleculin's glucose decoy technology.
While research being conducted in collaboration with the venerable M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, is still early, Moleculin believes that the prowess of WP1234 likely has to do with the fact that pancreatic cancer cells thrive in low-oxygen environments, which suggests they lean on glycolysis (a process used in anaerobic respiration) to survive.
WP1234 increases drug circulation time, which should help drug uptake and support destruction of tumor cells. Noting the dearth of effective treatments for pancreatic cancer, Moleculin CEO Walter Klemp opined, "even modest gains in treating this disease could represent a significant clinical benefit."
After closing Tuesday at 85 cents each, shares of MBRX shot ahead at Wednesday's opening bell following the news and are presently holding a gain of 35.4% at $1.15 at noon EDT. The spike in shares still only gives the company a tiny market capitalization of $20.4 million, according to data from Quote Media.
