Peplin PEP HAve a Read

Peplin Biotech hopeful of molecule found in Petty Spurge

By Janelle Miles
BRISBANE, AAP - It's basically a common garden weed with a
reputation as a folk remedy for treating sun spots.
But a molecule found in Petty Spurge could one day turn the
poisonous backyard pest into a big money spinner for a
publicly-listed Queensland company.
Peplin Biotech Ltd managing director Garry Redlich said phase
one human clinical trials of a cream using the molecule, Pep 005,
as a treatment for non-melanoma skin cancers, could begin in the
United Kingdom by December.
He said a pilot trial of 41 Brisbane patients using an unpure
mixture of compounds, including Pep 005, found it was 95 per cent
effective against basal and squamous cell carcinomas under 16mm in
diameter.
Professor Bruce Ward, on Peplin's medical advisory committee,
used himself as a guinea pig in the early trial after he developed
a basal cell carcinoma on his right cheek.
The professor of gynaecological oncology at the University of
Queensland said the cancer disappeared after using the cream once a
day for three days about a year ago and has not returned.
"I got a bit of local skin reaction which didn't upset me too
much and then it went away," Professor Ward said.
Peplin is negotiating with an international pharmaceutical
company to help it fund worldwide clinical trials, expected to cost
tens of millions of dollars, and to then commercialise the cream.
Mr Redlich said the cream could be on chemists' shelves by 2005,
reducing the need for expensive plastic surgery and slashing the
huge costs to the Australian health system of non-melanoma skin
cancers.
The benefits of Pep 005 may not end there.
Preliminary studies by the Queensland Institute of Medical
Research (QIMR) has shown the plant molecule may be an agent
against a range of cancers.
QIMR's Professor Peter Parsons is investigating its potential
usefulness against internal cancers.
"The preliminary results show it's active on other sorts of
cancers as well as non-melanoma skin cancers," he said.
"But it's a big jump from that to injecting it into people or
even into animals."
Pep 005 is currently before the United States' National Cancer
Institute for evaluation.
"In the studies they've done to date ... they found that Pep 005
was incredibly potent against some of the major systemic cancers
including leukaemias, collectoral cancers and renal cancer," Mr
Redlich said.
But that was only in the test tube.
The next step, underway at the moment, is to get results in mice
and hopefully, then proceed to human clinical trials.
"If they get the same results in mice, they may then sponsor and
pay for the clinical studies to take it forward against systemic
cancers (in humans)," Mr Redlich said.
Peplin Biotech listed in September 2000 at 40 cents a share and
opened today at 68 cents.
Mr Redlich said the company had another dozen or so compounds
under study.
"The scientific base of the company has greatly expanded to
include a number of promising anti-cancer drugs," he said.
"The first product will be a skin cancer drug developed from Pep
005 but the future of the company will be from a range of molecules
from different sources."
Mr Redlich said the folklore surrounding spurge plants goes back
to Roman times with claims of them being used for treatment of a
range of disorders from distemper to insanity.
Doctors warn against people trying to use Petty Spurge to treat
themselves.
AAP jhm/mg/sb