Paul Francis Reid, PhD | Co-founder, CEO & Chief Scientific Officer at Celtic Biotech Ltd; John Eoghan Reid, MSc | Co-founder, Chief Operations Officer at Celtic Biotech Ltd
Competition Sponsor: EIT Health of the European Union
Awardee Year: 2024
CB-24 represents the world’s first biologic anti-cancer monotherapy. Currently in Phase I clinical trials, the initial primary disease target will be the deadliest globally – non-small cell lung cancer. With 2.2m diagnosed annually, I.8m people succumb to the disease yearly. Those with late-stage disease have a particularly poor prognosis. The drug is an injectable naturally derived, specialised receptor-binding bi-partite protein. It has shown specific tumour cell targeting capability in pre-clinical and clinical studies to-date. Targeting the nicotinic receptors on cancer cells this bi-partite protein has two subunits. Subunit A targets cancer cells preferentially and the B subunit triggers a process leading to automatic cell death. The drug by-passes healthy cells leaving patients with mild or no side effects. CB-24 has shown an excellent clinical safety profile with minimal disruption to daily life. It can be delivered at home via infusion pump and has shown promising efficacy in clinical trials. The drug additionally has significant anti-inflammatory properties whereby patients have been observed to require reduced pain medications during treatment. This effect is in keeping with observations in pre-clinical animal models. The drug has application not only against NSCLC but also a number of tumour types including breast, prostate, ovarian and cervical. It may also have application against gliomas as it has been shown to pass the BBB. We aim to make a positive impact on patients’ lives through delivering a safe, efficacious, easily tolerable and cost-effective treatment which will lead to more curative outcomes across a number of different cancers.