First patient treated in Toronto hospital for Bantam clinical trial

Bantam Pharmaceutical, a clinical-stage company pioneering mitochondrial biology to develop first-in-class medicines for treating aggressive cancers, announced that the first patient was treated at The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, Canada, in its Phase 1 clinical trial studying BTM-3566. 

This milestone is an important step as the company begins testing the safety, tolerability, and early signs of effectiveness of BTM-3566 in patients. BTM-3566 is a new type of medicine that targets aggressive cancers by modulating a stress pathway inside cells which may help patients whose cancer has worsened after other treatments. 

Bantam’s first-in-class small molecule works by activating the OMA1-ATF4 integrated stress response (ISR) pathway - a newly described mechanism that governs mitochondrial functions and how cells respond to stress. Instead of targeting an individual protein and its cancer-driver mutations, BTM-3566 uses the machinery of the cancer cell to trigger cell death, making it an ideal treatment option for patients whose cancers no longer respond to standard therapies. 

"Enrolling the first patient in our Phase 1 trial is a pivotal milestone in our clinical development efforts,” said Michael Stocum, president and CEO of Bantam Pharmaceutical. “Princess Margaret Cancer Centre is an esteemed institution, and we are proud to collaborate with their expert investigators to advance this study for patients with limited treatment options.”