The treatment targets extensive stage small cell lung cancer and aims to boost therapeutic impact.

Ariceum Therapeutics, a company developing products for the treatment of specific cancers, has announced that the first patient has been dosed with its satoreotide therapy.

The treatment targets extensive stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC), while the research is taking place at the Murdoch University Health Center in Australia.

Ariceum’s broader open-label phase 1b trial will analyse the tolerability and safety of the ‘theranostic pair’ of somatostatin receptor antagonists, ga-satoreotide trizoxetan and lu-satoreotide tetraxetan, among patients with ES-SCLC. The central aim of the research is to establish a recommended phase 2 dose and schedule in due course.

‘Theranostics’ is the system of incorporating two paired drugs: the first, a diagnostic agent to identify cells that exhibit a particular biomarker, and the second, a therapeutic drug that subsequently acts on those cells.

Both the diagnostic agent and therapeutic drug include Ariceum’s proprietary peptide satoreotide,  an antagonist of the somatostatin receptor 2 (SST2).

The wider study, LuSato-1, includes individuals with ES-SCLC who will each receive an infusion containing a somatostatin receptor antagonist before undergoing a ‘positron emission tomography’ scan. This scan will ultimately determine if a patient’s tumours express SST2.

Germo Gericke, chief medical officer of Ariceum Therapeutics, explained: “Although immune checkpoint blockade has improved the treatment of ES-SCLC, disease recurrence often occurs early in the maintenance phase. Adding targeted radiotherapy with satoreotide to immune checkpoint blockade in the maintenance setting holds the promise to improve the therapeutic effect of the maintenance therapy.”

Manfred Rüdiger, chief executive officer at Ariceum Therapeutics, was optimistic about the initiation of the clinical trial: “We believe that our lead targeted systemic radiopharmaceutical product satoreotide has the potential to demonstrate positive results in patients with extensive stage small cell lung cancer.”

He added: “Theranostics holds great hope as a highly targeted form of cancer therapy, using a ‘search and destroy’ approach to seek out tumours while sparing healthy tissue.”