Monopar Provides Update on MNPR-101-Zr Radiopharma Clinical Trial

WILMETTE, Ill., Feb. 27, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Monopar Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: MNPR), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative treatments for cancer patients, today announced that the internationally recognized radiopharmaceutical physician, Professor Rodney Hicks, will be the lead investigator for Monopar’s MNPR-101-Zr Phase 1 dosimetry clinical trial in advanced cancer patients. Professor Hicks will enroll patients at the Melbourne Theranostic Innovation Centre (MTIC) and will use one of the world's most sensitive clinical total-body PET/CT (positron emission tomography–computed tomography) scanners, the Siemens Biograph Vision Quadra, to image the targeting ability of MNPR-101-Zr in cancer patients.

“We are very excited to have Professor Hicks as the lead investigator for our MNPR-101-Zr clinical trial,” said Chandler Robinson, MD, Monopar’s Chief Executive Officer. “He is a true pioneer in the radiopharma space, having helped introduce radiopharma agents into the clinic which are now approved globally for neuroendocrine tumors and prostate cancer, and having installed the first PET/CT in Australia and one of the first in the world.”

Professor Rodney Hicks, MBBS(Hons), MD, FRACP, FICIS, FAAHMS is the Founder, Chief Medical Officer, and Board Chair of Precision Molecular Imaging & Theranostics Pty Ltd, the company that operates MTIC. He is the former Director of Cancer Imaging at Peter MacCallum Centre in Melbourne, one of Australia’s largest cancer research centers, and has published over 650 research articles, reviews, and commentaries. In 2023, Professor Hicks received the Saul Hertz Award from the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging for his lifetime contribution to radionuclide therapy.

“The preclinical data that Monopar announced on this past Thursday encourages us to translate this class of agents into the clinical domain. MNPR-101-Zr is being developed for cancers with very high unmet medical need, such as pancreatic cancer and triple negative breast cancer,” said Professor Hicks. “I founded MTIC in part to help patients gain access to promising new radiopharmaceuticals, and the entire MTIC team is looking forward to activating the MNPR-101-Zr trial shortly and enrolling patients.”