Biodexa Pharmaceuticals PLC (listed on NASDAQ: BDRX) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative products focused on the treatment or prevention of gastrointestinal cancers. The company’s lead development programme, eRapa, is being readied for a phase 3 registration study in familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), a rare and serious condition where the only successful treatment option is bowel resection. Without effective treatment virtually all FAP patients progress to develop colorectal cancer. The company is also working on treatments for type 1 diabetes and primary and metastatic cancers of the brain.

eRapa is a proprietary oral tablet formulation of rapamycin (sirolimus). Rapamycin is an mTOR (mammalian Target Of Rapamycin) inhibitor. mTOR is known to have a significant role in the signalling pathway that regulates cellular metabolism, growth and proliferation and is activated during tumorgenesis. Rapamycin is approved in the US for organ rejection in renal transplantation. It is very poorly water soluble and current formulations exhibit significant variability in systemic plasma levels. Through the use of nanotechnology and pH sensitive polymers, eRapa is designed to improve bioavailability and achieve more consistent pharmacokinetics than existing products.

MTX240 is a next-generation molecular glue (OPB-171775) licensed exclusively from Otsuka in all territories outside Japan. This oral agent targets TKI-resistant GIST, a rare sarcoma (~4,000-6,000 new US cases annually), by inducing selective protein degradation to overcome standard-of-care limitations like imatinib resistance. 

Tolimidone is an orally delivered, potent and selective activator of lyn kinase. Lyn is a member of the Src family of protein tyrosine kinases, which is mainly expressed in hematopoietic cells, neural tissues, liver, and adipose tissue. Tolimidone demonstrates glycemic control via insulin sensitization in animal models of diabetes and has the potential to become a first in class blood glucose modulating agent.

MTX110 is a solubilised formulation of the histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, panobinostat. This proprietary formulation enables delivery of the product via convection-enhanced delivery (CED) at chemotherapeutic doses directly to the site of the tumour, by-passing the blood-brain barrier and potentially avoiding systemic toxicity.