Company takes top researcher’s idea one step further: Develops a lotion for cancer patients

For many breast cancer patients, side effects reduce their quality of life and may even persist long after the final round of chemotherapy.

Many cancer patients that receive specific types of chemotherapy experience painful sensory disturbances in their hands and feet, making it difficult to button a shirt, hold a cup or wear shoes. 

A newly established collaboration between Professor Tore Bjerregaard Stage from the research unit of Clinical Pharmacology, Pharmacy and Environmental Medicine at the Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, and the company Galenicap, could now represent an important step towards a gentle solution that reduces this painful side effect. 

From laboratory findings to a new treatment 

Over several years, Tore Bjerregaard Stage and his research group have studied how chemotherapy damages nerve cells. The results of this research have led to a promising project – a lotion that can prevent patients’ sensory disturbances after chemotherapy. 

Initially, the group aims to develop lotion for patients with breast cancer. According to the Danish Cancer Society, more than 5,000 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed each year in Denmark alone. 

According to the European Breast Cancer Coalition, Europa Donna, 1 in 11 women in the EU will develop breast cancer before the age of 74.

- We have become very good at treating cancer – especially breast cancer – and many patients survive. However, side effects are still a huge problem in oncology. We would like to improve quality of life for patients both during and after completion of treatment with chemotherapy, says Professor Tore Bjerregaard Stage.

Galenicap will help the research group develop a formulation for the lotion that can protect sensitive nerve endings against the harmful effects of chemotherapy and to establish clinical proof of concept in humans. Taking the finding out of the laboratory and into clinical testing requires a formulation that is stable, safe and effective. 

A collaboration with great potential 

If the company succeeds, the lotion could reduce sensory disturbances such as tingling, burning sensations and numbness, thereby improving quality of life for cancer patients during and after treatment.

- Galenicap develops novel medicines based on existing molecules that address important unmet patient needs, and this collaboration fits those criteria well. We specialise in developing improved therapies from molecules we already understand, and Professor Tore Bjerregaard Stage’s research gives us a strong scientific foundation to build on, says Hans Platteeuw, Executive Director & Chief Development Officer at Galenicap.

- The potential is significant — a unique product that protects patients from a painful and lasting side effect, addressing a need that current treatments simply do not. We believe our expertise in developing a stable and suitable formulation is well placed to make an important contribution to this project.

Unlike existing products – which alleviate symptoms after treatment – the company and the researchers are aiming for the lotion to prevent nerve damage before it happens instead of trying to treat symptoms after they have occurred. 

Repurposing a known drug 

According to Professor Tore Bjerregaard Stage, Galenicap is the obvious partner because of the company’s experience in rethinking the use of existing medicines. 

- This project is what we call a drug repurposing project. This means that we are reusing an old drug, in this case an old antibiotic, in an entirely new way to treat a disease it was not developed to treat. The company also has experience with business development and is familiar with the regulatory landscape, which is essential in the development of new medicines, says the professor.

- In addition, Galenicap has an investor network, which is important to us because development is costly. We realised quite early that this was a good match. 

If everything goes according to plan, the researchers will be able to test the lotion on humans within the next two years.

Innovator of the Month is a series that profiles frontrunners working with innovation at or from SDU. This time, we tell the story of the collaboration between researcher Tore Bjerregaard Stage and the company Galenicap.