Starpax is a biopharma and medtech company that has developed an innovative platform for treating cancer. The company has developed what it calls Magnetodrones, which deliver cancer drugs directly into a tumor. They are self-propelled and do not need to enter the bloodstream. They work in tandem with the Polartrak, a device that keeps the Magnetodrones contained within the tumor.
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00:00 Welcome, it's Michael Marouth-Benzinga, joined here today by Michael Garreau, the Chairman
00:05 of the Board and Founding President and CEO of Starbucks Biopharma.
00:09 Michael, start us off by telling us what the major challenge was that you faced in cancer
00:13 treatment.
00:14 In cancer treatment, there are many challenges.
00:18 One of them is side effects, especially from systemic treatments.
00:22 I mean injecting drugs in the blood system or through oral administration.
00:28 In this case, many studies have demonstrated that only 1% of the dose injected reaches
00:36 the tumor, while 99% of the injected toxic drug circulates in the whole patient body,
00:44 creating unwanted side effects.
00:47 Another major challenge in treating cancer is reaching cancer cells throughout the whole
00:54 volume of a tumor.
00:57 Medical studies around the globe have demonstrated that 90% of the volume of a tumor receives
01:04 little or no drug at all.
01:08 Think about it.
01:09 90% of the volume of a tumor receives little or no drug at all.
01:16 The reason is simple.
01:17 When a tumor grows, blood and lymphatic vessels are deteriorating and become malfunctioning,
01:24 chaotic, and often collapse.
01:27 Then the diffusion of the drug or immune cells in the tumor is really limited.
01:33 In a hypoxic area of the tumor, where oxygen is almost non-existent, there are no vessels
01:40 to ensure the diffusion.
01:43 Think of an Amazon delivery truck arriving in a city after an earthquake of magnitude
01:49 10.
01:50 Roads and bridges are inaccessible, impossible to make an efficient delivery.
01:56 That means drug or immune cells barely travel throughout the tumor volume because they need
02:03 blood vessels to be diffused in the tumor.
02:06 This is a real major problem of resistance to treatment that systemic chemotherapy or
02:13 even immunotherapy haven't solved for over a century.
02:18 That's what StarPaks has been conceived for, solving this huge problem by diffusing drug
02:25 throughout the whole volume of the tumor while eliminating side effects at the same time.
02:32 What differentiates StarPaks technology from other cancer treatments on the market as you
02:37 now come into this space, especially with your challenges in the past?
02:40 StarPak is not an ordinary pharma or even a biotech.
02:44 Our company is formed of four different scientific departments, microbiology, biochemistry, electromagnetism
02:53 engineering and artificial intelligence.
02:56 And it took all these disciplines to create a unique treatment platform to treat cancer.
03:02 We have developed living magnetodrones sensitive to various special magnetic fields.
03:08 These magnetodrones transport an anti-cancer molecule attached to their surface that is
03:13 used in FDA-approved treatment.
03:17 The magnetodrones are living microorganisms that are injected directly into the tumor
03:23 and don't circulate in the blood system.
03:27 They swim between the cells of the tumor tissues.
03:31 We have also conceived a medical device called the portal crack, which generates unique magnetic
03:38 fields.
03:39 These magnetic fields create a magnetic sphere around the tumor, conceived to trap the magnetodrone
03:47 inside the tumor, thus limiting side effects.
03:51 At the same time, the portal crack forces the magnetodrone to spread throughout the
03:58 volume of the tumor while they release the drug on their path.
04:03 In summary, we inject magnetodrones directly into the tumor and they bring up to 50 times
04:10 more drugs than systemic chemotherapy.
04:13 The magnetodrones swim and don't need blood vessels to travel in the tumor, while drugs
04:20 don't swim and need blood vessels to be transported.
04:25 The portal crack is conceived to keep the magnetodrone trapped inside the tumor, limiting
04:32 them to spread in the patient's body, while systemic treatments spread 99% of their toxic
04:41 drugs throughout the whole patient's body.
04:44 And finally, the portal crack controls the trajectory of the magnetodrone in order to
04:50 spread throughout the tumor volume, including hypoxic areas, while systemic drugs can only
04:58 be diffused by blood vessels, thus barely spreading in 10% of the tumor volume, without
05:06 even being able to diffuse in hypoxic areas where stem cells are located.
05:12 Absolutely.
05:13 And what's the timeline for your clinical trial on humans?
05:17 Our primary objective is to initiate clinical trial on humans as early as possible, so we
05:23 aim for June 2024.
05:25 Our magnetodrones GMP manufacturing plant is completed and the portal crack is already
05:31 installed at the hospital.
05:34 Phase 1 of our trials is expected to last 6 months.
05:38 We know that usual clinical trials take longer than that because they target only one rare
05:44 cancer and patients are also rare.
05:47 For Starbucks, it will be a little bit quicker than usual because we will treat 6 types of
05:53 cancer at the same time with the same drug that has been already used for these 6 cancer
05:59 indications, thus having more candidates.
06:03 We will target patients with unmet medical needs in the following organs.
06:08 Pancreas, Breast, Prostate, Colorectum, Head and Neck, and Vulva.
06:17 We plan to conduct Phase 2 of our trials with each cancer type in succession, so we expect
06:25 that Phase 2 will last 3 months for each cancer.
06:30 Our trials protocol is designed with the objective of filing results to the FDA for commercial
06:37 approval following completion of Phase 2 trials for each cancer type.
06:43 In order to meet our expected timeline, we plan to cooperate with various hospitals in
06:48 the U.S. and Canada when recruiting patients.
06:51 Got it.
06:52 Now Michael, you're aiming for FDA approval for 6 unmet medical need indications.
06:57 What impact do you think Starbucks' success is going to have on the eradication of common
07:00 cancer specifically?
07:02 As you said, our clinical trial will target 6 types of cancer and a magnetogram will transport
07:08 an anti-cancer molecule that has been used in humans for over 20 years, thus toxicity
07:14 level and maximum dose are well documented and we don't intend to exceed these limits.
07:21 According to our protocol, we will inject less than 20% of the dose of the drug that
07:28 is usually injected in traditional systemic treatment.
07:32 Furthermore, as we inject directly into the tumor, not in the blood system, no meaningful
07:39 side effects were observed in our preclinical studies.
07:43 Indeed, each animal was analyzed by an independent institutional laboratory, which concluded
07:50 that no inflammation nor pathological change were observed in the animal's liver, kidney,
07:58 heart tissue and other organs.
08:01 This anti-cancer molecule that we will use in our trial on humans is already used to
08:06 treat cancer as a first-line medicine.
08:10 Therefore, following commercial approval for unmet medical needs, we plan to proceed with
08:17 additional clinical trials with the objective of being approved as neoadjuvant for many
08:23 types of cancer because our treatment has the potential to become the lowest toxic cancer
08:30 treatment.
08:31 Then, we could consider the Starbucks treatment platform being an advantage to treat weak
08:38 and very old patients, and probably young children, at all levels of cancer.
08:45 Getting an FDA approval for our first clinical trial is not the ultimate goal, but just a
08:51 starting point.
08:53 They are cancer disease, but our pipeline also comprises non-cancer disease, where technology
09:00 extends possibility to being multi-drug and multi-disease, and even to diagnostic solution.
09:08 The Starbucks technology is a sophisticated solution platform with unlimited application.
09:14 Fantastic.
09:15 Michael Garreau, Chairman of the Board, Founding President and CEO of Starbucks BioPharma,
09:19 it's been an absolute pleasure hearing your story and talking with you today.
09:22 Thank you so much for joining us.