Clinical-stage biotechnology company Alpheus Medical Inc announced on Thursday the launch of a new clinical trial evaluating its investigational Porphyrin Metabolite Activation (PoMA) therapy in patients with butterfly glioblastoma (GBM), a particularly aggressive form of brain cancer that extends across the corpus callosum.

In the Alpheus Butterfly trial, patients with newly diagnosed butterfly GBM will receive PoMA therapy, which integrates 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) with bilateral low-intensity defocused ultrasound. Patients must enrol before the commencement of standard chemoradiation therapy.

Alpheus' strategy is designed to address the disease across both hemispheres while maintaining tumour selectivity.

The company's investigational PoMA therapy integrates a tumour-localising drug with proprietary low-intensity defocused ultrasound. Following oral administration of 5-ALA, protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) preferentially accumulates in tumour cells and is subsequently activated using externally delivered ultrasound. The therapy is delivered while the patient is awake in an outpatient setting and is designed to be repeatable.

In the multi-centre Butterfly study, PoMA therapy is administered alongside standard of care.