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Actuate Therapeutics Advances a New Era in Oncology with Potential Universal Backbone Therapy
Phase 2 study showed a doubling of the survival rate of metastatic pancreatic cancer patients at Year 1, an unprecedented outcomeTechnology is seen as
About this update from Actuate Therapeutics, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"Phase 2 study showed a doubling of the survival rate of metastatic pancreatic cancer patients at Year 1, an unprecedented outcomeTechnology is seen as transformative in increasing the effectiveness of treatment for a wide range of cancers CHICAGO, IL AND FORT WORTH, TX / ACCESS Newswire / August 25, 2025 / Vexing challenges await cancer researchers every day -- not just in finding new molecules -- but now, increasingly, in finding new ways to make tumors more vulnerable to existing drugs.Tumors have their own defense mechanisms, designed to thwart therapeutic intruders, and the immune system is often unable to mount an effective response.Dozens of companies are working in this area but Actuate Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ACTU) reports it has made more progress than any other, especially when it comes to difficult-to-treat tumors like metastatic ductal pancreatic cancer.One current standard of care for this diagnosis is gemcitabine combined with nab-paclitaxel, a drug developed 13 years ago by Celgene as Abraxane (now owned by Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY). It won FDA approval after a Phase 3 trial showed that the combination (generically called GnP) increased overall survival of metastatic pancreatic cancer patients by nearly two months (8.5 vs. 6.7) compared to gemcitabine alone.GnP still remains one of the most widely prescribed front-line chemotherapeutics for pancreatic cancer, with $1.8 billion in sales last year.In cancer research, building on key advances can be a productive strategy.So, armed with that idea and a large body of preclinical and mechanistic data, Actuate created a program that would add a third agent -- its GSK-3β inhibitor elraglusib (elra) - to the GnP combination with the goal of creating a new first-line therapy that could achieve better outcomes than GnP alone in the setting of metastatic pancreatic cancer.Game-Changing ResultsThe plan paid off. At this year's ASCO, Actuate reported positive topline results of a 286-patient Phase 2 clinical trial of elra+GnP in metastatic ductal pancreatic cancer patients randomized 2:1 to elra+GnP or GnP alone.--For patients in the elra+GnP arm, median overall survival increased by almost three months to 10.1 months vs 7.2 months for GnP alone, with an overall 37% reduction in the risk of death.--44.1% of patients in the elra+GnP arm were alive at Year 1, double the number (22....