OUR WORK:

CANCER RESEARCH:

Pancreatic cancer today has a case fatality rate of approximately 95%, and a one-year survival rate of approximately 25%, with few effective treatment options available to patients with this dreaded diagnosis. It remains the most difficult malignancy to treat with few treatment options available. It is predicted to be the second leading cause of cancer death in the next decade after lung cancer. 

●In collaboration with our research partners at the Dr. Szewczuk lab at Queen's University in KIngston Ontario, we have developed a novel treatment for pancreatic cancer. This treatment simultaneously blocks a number of cell surface receptors that facilitate cancer cells to grow, metastasize, and to develop resistance to our best current cancer treatments.

●This novel treatment reduced the growth and metastatic spread of an implanted human pancreatic cancer in an animal model by approximately 90% compared to the current standard treatment with chemotherapy alone. 

● Intriguingly, our novel treatment was also able to inhibit cancer stem cell enrichment and the associated development of resistance to chemotherapy. 

●These very promising preclinical results may provide a path forward in the treatment of this very difficult to treat human cancer. 

●At ENCYT, we are hopeful that translation of our preclinical experimental treatment into human beings may provide hope and a path forward in the treatment of this deadly disease. A human clinical trial is planned to start enrolling patients in early 2023. 

●Because of the proven ability of our experimental treatment to inhibit cancer stem cell enrichment, we are currently exploring whether this treatment may also prove synergistic with immunotherapy, opening up an entirely new direction in the treatment of pancreatic cancer that may revolutionize the current standard of care. 

OUR STORY

Encyt was founded in 2014 and has been engaged in pioneering research that has uncovered evidence  for a distinct and highly conserved inflammatory response triggered by surgical removal of a primary breast, colorectal, or prostate tumor and  treatment with chemotherapy or radiation.  This response occurs within a predictable time frame after cancer treatment and can trigger accelerated regrowth of a surviving cancer cell population and induce cancer stem cell enrichment.   This inflammatory response will lead to the development of a metastatically competent, treatment resistant  cancer cell phenotype in the cancer cells that survive the treatment.

Based  on our discovery of the specific triggers of this process, Encyt has  focused on the development of therapeutic options to disrupt this process at the time it is up-regulated as a rational  treatment approach against cancer.  Encyt has entered into a collaboration with a research group from Queen’s University where we  have been conducting extensive animal studies using a unique and proprietary combination of therapeutic agents designed to disrupt the signaling pathways that we have identified as being important in facilitating this process.  We  have been able to achieve an impressive 90% reduction in the growth of a  human primary pancreatic cancer in mouse xenografts as compared with chemotherapy alone and significantly limit the  development of metastatic disease and drug resistance. We have also  shown even greater efficacy in the treatment of human ovarian and breast cancer using our novel treatment approach in xenografts.

Encyt’s  main focus at present is to test our novel and proprietary therapeutic  approach in a human clinical trial.  We are finalizing the research work needed to prepare our proprietary treatment in a human clinical trial and anticipate enrollment to start in early 2023.

Encyt is funded through a small group of angel investors, as well as support from various government and philanthropic organizations. In early 2023, Encyt hopes to initiate its first human clinical trial for treatment of  pancreatic cancer.   The company is currently seeking additional funds for expansion of human clinical trials and eventual commercialization or  licensing.  

Cancer Treatments Transform Residual Cancer Cell Phenotype

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21214935

Revisiting Perioperative Chemotherapy: The Critical Importance of Targeting Residual Cancer Prior to Wound Healing
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19383172

Novel Molecular Mechanism of Aspirin and Celecoxib Targeting Mammalian Neuraminidase-1 Impedes Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Signaling Axis and Induces Apoptosis in Pancreatic Cancer Cells

Drug Des Devel Ther. 2020; 14: 4149–4167.
Published online 2020 Oct 8. doi: 10.2147/DDDT.S264122

Next Generation of Cancer Drug Repurposing: Therapeutic Combination of Aspirin and Oseltamivir Phosphate Potentiates Gemcitabine to Disable Key Survival Pathways Critical for Pancreatic Cancer Progression

https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14061374

Repurposing of Old Drugs for Novel Cancer Therapies: Continuous Therapeutic Perfusion of Aspirin and Oseltamivir Phosphate with Gemcitabine Treatment Disables Tumor Progression, Chemoresistance, and Metastases

https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14153595

Patent Pending:  Cancer treatment and metastasis inhibition using an anti-cancer stem cell agent in combination with a Neu 1-sialidase inhibitor or cytokine inhibitor after primary cancer treatment.