LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Mathematical modelling, data science and biostatistics specialist Physiomics announced on Wednesday that its Innovate UK-funded 'PREDICT-ONC' project had received both regulatory and ethical approval.
The AIM-traded firm said the project aimed to advance personalised dosing software designed to optimise chemotherapy treatments and manage chemotherapy-induced neutropenia.

It said the software, initially developed to assist clinicians in tailoring docetaxel chemotherapy dosing, had expanded in utility through studies such as the PARTNER trial, completed in January 2023.

The software demonstrated additional applications in dosing granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (GCSF), a biological drug commonly used to counteract neutropenia - a side effect of chemotherapy that reduces white blood cell counts.

Physiomics said the PREDICT-ONC project, supported by a £137,376 grant from Innovate UK and the Office for Life Sciences, aimed to refine and evaluate the software's ability to predict GCSF dosing.

The observational clinical trial would recruit breast cancer patients undergoing standard GCSF treatment at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Conducted in partnership with Beyond Blood Diagnostics, the trial would measure treatment effects on neutropenia, generating data to enhance the software's predictive capabilities.

Despite delays in securing approvals, the project team expected patient recruitment to begin shortly, with minimal impact on the overall timeline.

Completion of the trial remained targeted for late 2025.

"Physiomics and our partners are thrilled to have now obtained approval to proceed with the PREDICT-ONC observational trial," said chief executive officer Dr Peter Sargent.

"We had initially planned to start this trial last summer, but due to delays in the approval process that were out of our hands, approval has only now been obtained."

However, Dr Sargent said that due to the "hard work of the project team", including recruitment of a research nurse and the identification of potential patients, the company predicted that the delays would have a minimal impact on the overall timelines and final readout of the project.

"We at Physiomics are excited to start receiving the data generated from this trial, so we can continue development of our personalised dosing software."

At 1345 GMT, shares in Physiomics were up 3.87% at 0.81p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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