CHESTERBROOK, PA — Persevere Therapeutics has dosed the first patient in a Phase 2a trial of misetionamide at the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center, moving the experimental MYC inhibitor into a new stage of clinical testing for patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.
The MIROC-1 trial will evaluate misetionamide as a standalone treatment in 18 patients across four U.S. academic cancer centers. The open-label, single-arm study will assess the drug’s safety and efficacy.
Misetionamide is being developed as an inhibitor of MYC, a protein involved in tumor growth and proliferation that has historically been difficult to target with drugs.
The first patient was treated at Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center in Philadelphia. Rush University Medical Center/MD Anderson Cancer Center in Chicago is screening patients, while Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School in Boston and the University of Kansas Cancer Center in Kansas City are expected to begin screening within the month.
“Treating the first patient in MIROC-1 is a defining moment for Persevere Therapeutics and, more importantly, for the women living with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer who urgently need new treatment options,” Chief Medical Officer Seymour Fein stated.
Fein identified misetionamide’s approach to targeting MYC as the central rationale for the development program.
Platinum-resistant ovarian cancer occurs when the disease no longer responds to platinum-based chemotherapy, leaving patients with fewer treatment options.
Persevere cited American Cancer Society figures estimating that about 21,000 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer annually in the U.S. and 12,400 die from the disease each year. According to the company, most patients eventually develop platinum resistance, after which median survival is measured in months.
MIROC-1 marks the clinical-stage oncology company’s evaluation of misetionamide as a monotherapy specifically in the platinum-resistant ovarian cancer population.
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