THE PCI TECHNOLOGY
Photochemical internalisation (PCI) is a technology developed to unlock the full potential of drugs by targeted illumination of a well-defined area of the body, following the administration of our proprietary product and the active drug. Since the effect occurs only where light is applied, PCI is a localised precision therapy.
The PCI effect is obtained by the use of a photosensitising compound that attaches to the cellular membrane of the target cells. During uptake of therapeutic drug molecules by endocytosis, the photosensitiser becomes incorporated in the membrane of the endocytic vesicles and co-localised with the drug. Following illumination with light at a wavelength that activates the photosensitiser, the integrity of the endosomal membrane is disturbed and the drug is released in the cytosol where it can reach its target of action.
PCI is applied to two distinct anticancer paradigms:
PCI Biotech’s lead candidate is the proprietary photosensitiser fimaporfin.
THE POTENTIAL OF PCI
PCI is uniquely positioned to significantly impact two pillars of oncology drug development: immuno-oncology and nucleic-acid based therapies.
Full exploitation of these two anti-cancer treatment paradigms require access to the inside of their human target cells, e.g. tumour cells or immune cells, in order to be effective. Unfortunately, many of these substances are by nature encapsulated in so-called endosomes as they enter the target cell. Once inside the cell, most of the active compound may hence be trapped in the endosomes and therefore unable to exert its therapeutic effect. Pharmaceutical companies around the world struggle to find effective methods to release drugs that are entrapped in this way, and are actively searching for technologies that provide adequate drug release inside the target cells, in order to exploit the full therapeutic and commercial potential of their products.
PCI Biotech’s patented investigational drug fimaporfin is able to unlock the intracellular capsules (endosomes) where the active compounds are entrapped. Hence, fimaporfin has the ability to unlock the true potential of new promising classes of cancer therapy, such as certain immunotherapeutics, and RNA therapeutics.
PCI Biotech’s fimaVACC programme aims to enhance immunotherapy in cancer, by triggered endosomal release of antigens or nucleic acids encoding antigens, or immunostimulatory factors. Enhancement of relevant immune responses with protein- and peptide-based vaccines were successfully demonstrated in humans through a Phase I study in healthy subjects. fimaNAc utilises the endosomal release to provide intracellular delivery of nucleic acids, such as mRNA and siRNA therapeutics, thereby addressing one of the major bottlenecks facing this emerging and promising field.