SAN CARLOS, CALIFORNIA, US, March 17, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/
Alessa Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held drug development company developing an innovative and proprietary localized drug delivery technology for the treatment of prostate disease, announced the enrollment of the first patient in the company’s Biolen-PC clinical study in Australia. Biolen-PC (NCT 04284761) is a first-in-man study evaluating the safety and patient tolerance of Biolen for the localized sustained delivery of bicalutamide into the prostate in patients scheduled for prostate surgery for treatment of non-metastatic prostate cancer. The Biolen-PC study will treat up to 20 patients in Australia and New Zealand.
Associate Professor Peter Chin, a Urologist at Wollongong Private Hospital in NSW, Australia, noted, “I am excited to be the first in Australia to enroll a patient in this study. The Biolen implant procedure went very smoothly with this gentleman who had a Gleason Grade Group 4 prostate cancer and is scheduled for a radical prostatectomy in a few months. I am encouraged that he can enroll in this trial for localized delivery of bicalutamide while awaiting his radical prostatectomy. I look forward to enrolling more patients in this important study to advance our understanding of this novel approach to treating prostate cancer.”
Prostate cancer is the second most prevalent cancer among men in the United States and Australia. According to the American Cancer Society, over 192,000 men in the U.S. are newly diagnosed each year, and three million men live with prostate cancer. In Australia, prostate cancer incidence is one of the highest among developed countries at 110 cases/100,000 men.
While some men with low-risk tumors choose to monitor their disease, most prostate cancer patients are treated with either surgery to remove their prostate or radiation therapy. Both surgery and radiation treatment have potential complications, including urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction. Anti-androgen and testosterone-lowering drugs are approved for high-risk localized or metastatic disease due to side effects, including muscle mass loss, cognitive issues, sexual dysfunction, and cardiovascular events. Alessa’s Biolen implant is designed to deliver an anti-androgen drug directly to the target tissue in the prostate, eliminating significant side effects and improving the quality of life for men living with prostate cancer while avoiding surgery or radiation therapy.
“We are excited to complete the first patient enrollment in Australia. All of us at Alessa are grateful for the support from Dr. Chin and the research team at South Coast Urology and Wollongong Private Hospital and this patient’s participation in this important study, especially in these challenging times with COVID. With every procedure, we learn new things about our technology, and we look forward to conducting more cases at all of our investigational sites.” said Dr. Pamela Munster, founder of Alessa Therapeutics. “I founded this company three years ago to increase the treatment options for men diagnosed with prostate cancer and provide a higher quality of life while under treatment. The results from this study will be used to support our U.S. IND submission to the FDA for additional studies and will get us one step closer to our eventual goal.”
In addition to Dr. Chin in Australia, Professor Henry Woo, Dr. Ahmed Goolam and Dr. James Symons working at Sydney Adventist Hospital, Associate Professor Daniel Moon and Associate Professor Jeremy Grummet at Epworth Healthcare and Dr. Fraundorfer who has enrolled two patients at Tauranga Hospital in New Zealand, are participating in the Biolen-PC study.
About Alessa Therapeutics
Founded in 2018 and based on technology developed at the University of California San Francisco, Alessa Therapeutics is a privately held company with a focus on developing selective and sustained localized drug delivery for the treatment of prostate cancer and benign prostate hyperplasia. Alessa also has development efforts underway in breast cancer. Alessa is financed by Mission Bay Capital and BioInnovation Capital (now Mission Biocapital: https://www.missionbiocapital.com/). For more information on Alessa Therapeutics, visit www.alessatherapeutics.com or email alessa@alessatherapeutics.com.