Oncolytics Biotech Inc (ONCY)

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Hopeful New Therapies For Pancreatic Cancer Expected to be a Big Boon for Biotechs
PR Newswire
8:50 AM ET
Pancreatic cancer is a notoriously aggressive and hard-to-treat malignancy; the five-year survival rate is less than 10%. Treatment options for pancreatic cancer are limited to surgery, radiation, and chemotherapies; thus, demand is high for safer, more-efficacious drugs, which will serve to drive the market. ResearchAndMarkets projects that the global pancreatic cancer therapy market is expected to reach US$ 4,056.4 Mn in 2025 from US$ 2,011.2 Mn in 2017. The market is estimated to grow with a CAGR of 8.1% from 2018-2025. The growth of the pancreatic cancer therapy market is primarily attributed to the increase in number of therapies launched in the market. The development of new drugs is thus expected to drive the growth of pancreatic cancer therapy market. The report continued by saying: "However, these drugs travel throughout the body and thus can affect normal and healthy cells adversely. Blood-forming cells in the bone marrow, hair follicles and cell in th e mouth, digestive tract, and reproductive system are likely to be affected by chemotherapeutic drugs. The current treatment options available for pancreatic cancer patients only help to extend the patients' lives by a few months. Active biotech and pharma companies in the markets this week include Oncolytics Biotech(R) Inc. (NASDAQ: ONCY) (TSX: ONC), Mallinckrodt plc (NYSE: MNK), Genprex, Inc. (NASDAQ: GNPX), Soligenix, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNGX), BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: BCRX).

"This demands potential drugs that are able to enhance the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs. Combination of two or more chemotherapy drugs are a suitable way out to increase the efficacy of the drug as well as proves advantageous in the treatment... the biologic therapy segment is expected to grow at the fast est rate during the coming years owing to increasing number of novel upcoming immunotherapies as well as targeted cell therapy that treats the cancer without any severe side effects and has number of therapeutic benefits over the conventional chemotherapies... This demands potential drugs that are able to enhance the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs. Combination of two or more chemotherapy drugs are a suitable way out to increase the efficacy of the drug as well as proves advantageous in the treatment."

Oncolytics Biotech(R) Inc. (NASDAQ: ONCY) (TSX: ONC) BREAKING NEWS: Oncolytics Biotech(R) Announces Publication of an Abstract for the 2020 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium Highlighting CEACAM6 as a Potential Prognostic Biomarker Candidate for Pancreatic Cancer - Oncolytics Biotech(R) curr ently developing pelareorep, an intravenously delivered immuno-oncolytic virus, today stated that the previously announced abstract for a poster to be presented at the 2020 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium sponsored by ASCO in San Francisco, has been published. The abstract highlights new biomarker data from the randomized study NCI 8601: Carboplatin and Paclitaxel With or Without Viral Therapy in Treating Patients With Recurrent or Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer.

The abstract, CEACAM6 is a candidate biomarker for Reolysin(R) (pelareorep) sensitivity in pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC), was co-authored by Dr. Anne Noonan, Department of Medical Oncology, Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Richard Solove Research Institute and James Cancer Hospital, and Dr. Tanios Bekaii-Saab Senior As sociate Consultant, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, Arizona.

Data in the abstract associate low levels of the gene CEACAM6 with prolonged progression free survival (PFS) in pelareorep-treated patients with pancreatic cancer, with PFS improving from 5.72 months to 10.32 months (p=0.05). This effect was not seen in non-pelareorep treated patients. Consequently, CEACAM6 may serve as a prognostic biomarker for sensitivity of pancreatic tumors to pelareorep treatment. Additional data will be announced following the poster presentation.

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