A Northern Kentucky startup developing targeted therapies for cancer has dosed its first patient in a clinical study being held in Cincinnati.
Covington-based Bexion Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage biopharma company, said Tuesday it dosed its first adult patient in the new study for BXQ-350, its lead drug candidate.
The study, known as RETRO, will assess the potential for BXQ-350 to reduce the intensity and/or duration of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, or CIPN, a common side effect of many forms of chemotherapy treatment.
The trial is being conducted at CTI Clinical Research Center in Cincinnati. CTI, also headquartered in Covington, is one of the 20 largest contract research organizations in the world.
Bexion plans to enroll 20 patients in RETRO, the company said.
“This study is a natural follow-on,” Scott Shively, CEO of Bexion Pharmaceuticals, said in a release. “CIPN is an enormous problem – over 700,000 surviving cancer patients per year in the U.S. alone have peripheral neuropathies caused by their prior chemotherapy."
The RETRO study follows Bexion’s recent Phase 1 solid tumor study in cancer patients, in which patients reported potential reduction of existing CIPN symptoms.
RETRO will examine the effects of BXQ-350, a first-in-class biologic, or drug, on cancer patients exposed to oxaliplatin and/or taxane-based chemotherapy who are exhibiting CIPN symptoms. CIPN, per the American Cancer Society, can cause severe pain, tingling, numbing and weakness. It also has the ability to cause more serious problems like changes in heart rate and blood pressure, dangerous falls, trouble breathing, paralysis or organ failure.
The goal is to determine the impact BXQ-350 has on "potentially reducing the intensity and/or duration of CIPN, improving quality of life and establishing biomarkers in future studies," Bexion said.
Bexion is targeting initial data read-out from the study in the third quarter of 2023.
Bexion, headquartered on Russell Street in Covington, is developing a new generation of biologic immunotherapy to treat solid tumor cancers as well as chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. Its lead candidate, BXQ-350, has demonstrated pre-clinical anti-tumor effects in vitro and in vivo, particularly in colorectal, brain and other solid tumors.
The company is one of the state's best-funded startups, having raised more than $79 million since its launch in 2006, including $25 million in a currently open Series C round.
The company has 24 full-time employees.
