Nyrada (ASX:NYR) said that a rodent study demonstrated that its xolatryp drug candidate exhibits anti-tumor activity both as a monotherapy and in combination with doxorubicin, a first-line chemotherapy drug, according to a Wednesday Australian bourse filing.

Xolatryp, an inhibitor of Transient Receptor Potential Canonical (TRPC)-3/6/7 ion channels, was evaluated in a Huh7 cell-line derived rodent xenograft model of liver cancer, a standard preclinical model to assess tumor growth inhibition.

Huh7 cells were implanted subcutaneously, and treatment was initiated once the tumors reached 50 cubic millimeters to 75 cubic millimeters, marking day 0. The rodents received either vehicle control, doxorubicin, administered twice weekly, xolatryp, administered intratumorally once daily, or a combination of doxorubicin with xolatryp.

The combination of xolatryp with doxorubicin led to the greatest anti-tumor effect, showing a 57% reduction in tumor volume compared with vehicle control at day 14. Xolatryp also demonstrated activity as a monotherapy, with a 32% reduction in tumor volume relative to vehicle control. A 41% reduction was observed with doxorubicin monotherapy.

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A patent application covering the use of xolatryp as an anti-cancer agent was lodged.

The data support further preclinical evaluation of xolatryp across additional tumor types where anthracyclines remain standard-of-care therapy. An additional preclinical cardiomyopathy study is being undertaken to further assess the potential of xolatryp to mitigate doxorubicin-associated cardiac injury and support the development of xolatryp as a differentiated adjunct therapy for use with anthracycline-based chemotherapy.

Its shares rose 14% in recent trading on Wednesday.