$PMCB Pharmacyte Biotech is About to Light the Fuse
Pharmacyte Biotech Inc. (OTCMKTS:PMCB) CEO Ken Waggoner is about to shake hands with a small army of movers and shakers.
Don't be too surprised if things seem a little more lively for Pharmacyte Biotech Inc. (OTCMKTS:PMCB) beginning next week.... trading activity, media coverage, and maybe even a partner or financial backer. The company's CEO Kenneth L. Waggoner will be attending this year's annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, which always seems to stir the pot, so to speak, for the company's in attendance. PMCB isn't apt to be an exception.
The invitation-only event pulls together institutional investors and biotech companies, and has become a much bigger event than J.P. Morgan ever foresaw when it started hosting the conference more than three decades ago. Now the entire area around the conference also hosts several other ancillary events that ultimate lead to deals, funding, and networking.
This year's conference will take place between January 11th and the 14th in San Francisco, California.
The event could prove to be a real boon for Pharmacyte Biotech, as it's headed into the event well-positioned with a tremendous pipeline and market opportunity.
PharmaCyte Biotech is the developer of a patented technology called Cell-in-a-Box(r) ... a means of encapsulating live cells -- cells grown to perform a particular function -- and implanting these pinhead-sized capsules in the body to perform a specific medical purpose. The technology has many applications, but PharmaCyte Biotech is furthest along in its development of the idea as a means of treating pancreatic cancer.
In phase 2 trials, PharmaCyte has shown that catalyzing a prodrug form of cancer-fighting therapy ifosfamide in the bloodstream in the upper part of the leg maximizes delivery of the active form of the drug to the cancer-ridden pancreas. Ergo, this approach has proven superior to activation of the drug in the liver.
In a phase 1/2 trial examining the benefit of the Cell-in-a-Box(r) activation of ifosfamide versus the results gemcitabine would be able to achieve alone, the Pharmacyte approach improved the median survival timeframe from 28 to 44 weeks. Equally impressive is the fact that the number of one-year survivors increased from 18% to 36% of the study's patients. The next stage of the trial will pit ifosfamide against the gemcitabine/Abraxane combination, which is the proverbial gold standard (for now) among pancreatic cancer treatment options.
The real star of the show, however, is the Cell-in-a-Box(r) technology, which makes the activation of ifosfamide possible.
As was noted, inside each encapsulation are thousands of living cells, engineered to take on a very specific role. In the case of pancreatic cancer, PharmaCyte Biotech has enclosed cells that produce the same P450 enzyme the liver would produce to activate ifosfamide. The only difference is the point of activation -- the leg rather than the liver.
Those who've followed the premise of live-cell encapsulation will know it's not been an easy road to navigate. The ideal material for the "shell" of these encapsulations is a cellulose-based material, but most trials of various cellulose materials have failed in the sense that either the body's immune system successfully attacked them (seeing these cells as outside invaders) , or the encapsulations themselves structurally failed.
PharmaCyte Biotech, however, seems to have found the right formula to make the encapsulations.
The combination of two proprietary polymers and a propriety droplet-forming process has allowed the company to achieve what had been fairly elusive for other researchers up until this point. The hardened polymer combination is still cellulose-based, allowing it to let nutrients in and allow the P450 enzyme out. But, the tough shell also prevents the patient's own immune system from attacking and killing the cells living inside the capsules.
Clearly the technology and premise have the potential to be a game-changer in terms of drug delivery, as the Cell-in-a-Box(r) technology can encapsulate a wide variety of cells....and not just cells that help fight cancer. PharmaCyte Biotech is even working on using encapsulate insulin-producing cells as a therapy for diabetes. Even then, the application of the idea has only scratched the surface of its potential.
There's no word yet on if PharmaCyte will be offering an online webcast from any presentations it makes at the conference, but it's very likely the company will be releasing some sort of update or wrap-up report after the event. More important though, it's a chance to get its story out in front of Wall Street's and the biotech industry's most centers of influence, which bodes well for PMCB shares (which have already been on a tear following last week's capitulation).
