PharmaCyte Biotech Inc (PMCB)

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$PMCB PharmaCyte Biotech Takes a Cancer-Treatment Quantum Leap (PMCB, CELG, LLY)
Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) and Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY) may be bigger names, but PharmaCyte Biotech Inc. (OTCMKTS:PMCB) has the better idea at least on one key front.

By Bryan Murphy
May 27, 2015 5:49:08 AM PDT | 151 View(s) | No Comment(s) - Post a Comment Rating

Look out Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY) and Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) - there's a small company called PharmaCyte Biotech Inc. (OTCMKTS:PMCB) poised to take control of a market you currently dominate. Granted, it's a small market. But, what makes PharmaCyte Biotech so great on this one minor front could easily be leveraged to make it great on several, much bigger fronts.

That "front" is the pancreatic cancer market front, where Celgene and Eli Lilly and Co. both currently contribute to the preferred therapy... a combination of gemcitabine - which was created by LLY long ago (as Gemzar) - and newer drug Abraxane, made by CELG. Gemcitabine kills cancer cells by disrupting their reproduction, while Abraxane produces molecules to prevent cytidine deaminase (or CDA) from forming. CDA can break gemcitabine down before it gets to achieve its maximum effect.

Abraxane and gemcitabine aren't necessarily the most effective treatment option, however. It's just the most effective option that's tolerable. There's a generic drug called ifosfamide that may actually be more effective. The problem is, the size of the dose needed for ifosfamide to be effective as a therapy for pancreatic cancer causes some nasty side effects far too often for the FDA's comfort.

What if, however, the dose of ifosfamide could be lowered to tolerable levels without sacrificing any efficacy?

Enter PharmaCyte Biotech.

The key isn't a twist on the drug's chemistry itself; the drug molecule is fine as is. The quantum leap PMCB brings to the table is how and where it's delivered.

Most intravenous cancer treatments are simply injected into a patient's body in their final active form. In most cases this is fine, even though the bulk of those medicine molecules don't make it to the actual cancer site - enough of them do find the tumor to create an anticancerous effect. If the drug generally creates adverse side effects, however, allowing much of the drug to spread all over the body rather than only close to the tumor site can actually put the brakes on the usage of that drug if side effects are going to be unbearable. The solution is not turning the drug into its final active (and side-effect-causing) form until right before it reaches the cancerous area of the body.

How does PharmaCyte Biotech do this? By encapsulating live cells that produce a very specific enzyme that converts a molecule that's almost ifosfamide into actual ifosfamide, and placing those encapsulated cells in close proximity to the tumor. In this case, that would be close to the pancreas.

It's not exactly a new idea. What is new, however, is that the idea now works because PMCB has mastered the tricky art of creating a call "capsule" that is durable enough to last indefinitely, porous enough to allow nutrients into the capsule to (to "feed" those living cells), also porous enough to let those living cells emit things like enzymes, insulin, or waste, yet not so porous that a patient's own immune system ends up killing the very cells in the encapsulation that need to be alive and fully functioning inside the body.

The capsules themselves are about the size of the head of a pin.

Oh, and the premise works too. The drug/platform is now in phase 2 testing, and so far the delivery of ifosfamide this way versus the results gemcitabine would be able to achieve alone has improved the median survival timeframe from 28 to 44 weeks. Equally impressive is the fact that the number of one-year survivors in the study increased from 18% to 36%. Perhaps most impressive of all, though, is that fact that ifosfamide's common nasty side effects have been well contained.

Although compelling, many investors will already know pancreatic cancer is a very small market relative to the $100 billion (annually) cancer market. Pancreatic cancer treatment sales only generate between $1 billion and $2 billion per year, meaning Celgene Corporation and Eli Lilly and Co. have little to worry about with PharmaCyte Biotech Inc. right now. That's a short-sighted view of the encapsulation biotechnology, however. This same premise and approach may well be applicable to a myriad of other cancers. In fact, PMCB is already exploring those other possibilities, and has already specifically put breast cancer on its most-wanted list. That's a $14 billion market.

The technology may even reach beyond the realm of cancer, however. Even before deeper breast cancer research begins the company is going to take aim at type 1 diabetes.

Diabetes is, in simplest terms, a body's inability to make its own insulin, which performs the necessary process of breaking down sugar in the bloodstream. The go-to solution thus far has been injecting insulin from outside the body into the bloodstream. The proposed PharmaCyte is much more elegant and effective though - encapsulate insulin-producing cells and deposit a few hundred of these capsules into the pancreas where they will operate as the pancreas normally should. The approach's chemistry has been shown to effective - and safe - in preclinical trials.

That's another $7 billion worth of market PMCB could tap into.

All of a sudden this "little" company is a big threat to bigger and better-entrenched players like the aforementioned Celgene Corporation and Eli Lilly and Co.

While any actual revenue-bearing products may still be years away, the market loves to reward biotech milestones and novel approaches. PMCB shares may be on the receiving end of that mindset for the next several years as it marches toward the creation of revenue-bearing products.

For those investors attending this year's ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) conference this weekend and early next week, be sure to look for PharmaCyte's Chief Executive Officer Kenneth L. Waggoner and Chief Operating Officer Dr. Gerald W. Crabtree, who will be representing the company at the event. It will be a great chance to ask questions and glean more information regarding the company's technology and potential.

For more on PharmaCyte Biotech, visit the company website here.

http://www.smallcapnetwork.com/PharmaCyte-Biotech-Takes-a-Cancer-Treatment-Quantum-Leap-PMCB-CELG-LLY/s/via/1789/article/view/p/mid/3/id/645/