Scandion Oncology (Scandion) has completed pre-clinical studies confirming that the company's lead compound, SCO-101, could also potentially be an effective treatment for gastric cancer. SCO-101 is currently being clinically developed as a combination treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer and pancreatic cancer, presenting gastric cancer as an appealing new opportunity for Scandion. It has been well documented in scientific literature that the protein ABCG2 is overexpressed in gastric cancer cells and that high ABCG2-expression is associated with poor clinical outcome (i.e., survival).

Scandion's pre-clinical studies have confirmed that ABCG2, which SCO-101 specifically inhibits, is overexpressed in gastrics cancer cells, meaning that gastric cancer cells will be sensitive to SCO-101 treatment. SCO-101 works synergistically with chemotherapy in ABCG2-positive cells. This is similar to colorectal cancer in which have seen impressive overall survival (OS) for patients when SCO-101 is combined with the chemotherapy FOLFIRI as per the data from part two of the CORIST trial, which was announced last month.

As FOLFIRI is also used to treat gastric cancer, Scandion sees an opportunity to utilize the combination with SCO-101 in a similar way to how CORIST is designed, with comparable positive results expected. Similar to what was observed in colorectal cancer, the company would expect SCO-101 to increase the levels of chemotherapy in the blood without increasing toxicity of the therapy. The extensive pre-clinical and clinical knowledge that Scandion has gained from their CORIST study puts them in an excellent position to conduct clinical testing in gastric cancer as well.

The pre-clinical exploration in gastric cancer has been conducted in collaboration with a world leading contract research organization as part of Scandion's strategy to identify novel disease areas that SCO-101 has the potential to be a new and improved treatment. This was done based on the already significant pre-clinical and clinical data generated on SCO-101, with the aim of maximizing both the medical and commercial potential of SCO-101. Gastric cancer is another disease with significant unmet medical need, especially in recurrent/metastatic cases.

The five-year survival rate is only 30-35% and gastric cancer is number four in absolute mortality, taking the lives of 770,000 patients every year.