Midatech Pharma chooses MTR104 for liver cancer treatment

International speciality pharmaceutical company Midatech Pharma has selected its candidate compound MTR104 to take into a formal IND-enabling programme during 2017.

This would be followed by human studies planned for 2018, the company said.

"The programme is focused on advanced liver cancer where current chemotherapeutic treatment options are limited and the typical survival period is six months," Midatech said.

The company is pursuing improved forms of cancer therapy based on combining marketed chemotherapeutic medicines with tumour-targeting molecules or peptides on the same nanoparticle-based conjugate.

"The aim is to allow highly toxic drugs to be specifically targeted to and delivered at the tumour cells while sparing normal tissue, thereby reducing side effects and enhancing efficacy," Midatech said in a statement.

At about 11:52 GMT, shares in Midatech were up 5.86% to 126.5p each.