Isofol Medical AB (publ) announced that the company has initiated a preclinical research collaboration with Oncosyne AS, to evaluate the effect of the drug candidate arfolitixorin in different doses combined with the cancer drug 5-FU, among others. This is an important step in the company's previously communicated strategy to re-evaluate possible future tracks for arfolitixorin and to maximize the opportunities to take the drug candidate further toward potential market approval. Isofol, together with external experts, is conducting an extensive analysis of the data from the clinical phase III study, AGENT.

In the study, arfolitixorin did not meet its goals and the study was terminated in 2022. The initial conclusions from the analysis indicate that the dose of arfolitixorin may have been too low to allow a fair comparison with the control group and that the substance may not have been administrated optimally. Arfolitixorin's safety profile was a prioritized part of the analysis, and the company has not found any obstacles to proceed with the development of the drug candidate.

Based on the initial analysis of data from the AGENT study, Isofol intends to evaluate several doses of arfolitixorin in combination with 5-FU as well as other possible treatments, within a research collaboration with Oncosyne. Oncosyne AS has developed a technology platform for preclinical testing in functional precision oncology, based on drug screening of the patient's own cancer cells. The technology can be used in several stages of drug development from functional evaluation of drug activity to selection of patients for clinical trials.