ESSA Pharma Inc., a pharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel small molecule drugs for the treatment of prostate cancer, announced today the receipt of a $1.2 million payment from the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas.
The payment is part of a total non-dilutive grant of $12.0 million originally awarded in July 2014, and is repayable out of potential future product revenues. The payment recognizes eligible expenditures made by ESSA in conducting the phase I dose escalation clinical trial currently underway, and also costs incurred in preparation for the phase II dose expansion clinical trial expected to begin later this year.
The company is eligible to receive a further $229,200 upon completion of financial and compliance filings with CPRIT.
“The financial support from CPRIT since 2014 has been instrumental to ESSA in building a top-tier team in Houston to guide the clinical development of EPI-506,” said David Parkinson, ESSA president and CEO.
The company initiated the phase I/II clinical trial of EPI-506 in late 2015 and continues to expand dosing patients in the Phase 1 portion of the study at sites in the U.S. and Canada. The clinical trial is designed to demonstrate the safety, tolerability, maximum tolerated-dose, pharmacokinetics and efficacy of EPI-506 in the treatment of prostate cancer patients who have failed treatments using abiraterone or enzalutamide or both, the current standard-of-care drugs in metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer.
