Transcription of The Stock Network Interview with Percheron Therapeutics (ASX:PER), CEO and Managing Director Dr James Garner
Lel Smits: Percheron Therapeutics is an international biotechnology company developing novel therapies for oncology and rare diseases. During the December quarter, the company reported final phase 1 data for HMBD002, confirming strong safety and encouraging efficacy signals, and outlined a modular phase 2 clinical trial with manufacturing scheduled for the second quarter of this year. Ahead of appearing at Wholesale Investors Emergence 2026 conference, I’m joined by CEO and Managing Director, Dr. James Garner, to discuss clinical progress and the path into phase 2. James, welcome to the Stock Network.
James Garner: Thanks, Lel. It’s great to be with you.
Lel Smits: Great to have you on, and keen to get an update from yourselves with final phase 1 data from HMBD002 showing strong safety and early signs of efficacy across a heavily pre-treated patient population.
What do these results really tell you about the drug’s potential as you move into phase 2?
James Garner: Well, I think the results, to be honest, exceeded our expectations a little, and really gives us enormous encouragement now for the work we’ve got ahead. Two key things came out of the study. The first thing, as you say, the drug is extremely safe and well tolerated.
And that really matters, because about half of cancer drugs fall over in phase 1. And so the fact that our drug has cleared that hurdle with flying colors is really reassuring. But secondly, we saw some indications of potential efficacy in some of the patients in the study. That’s a bonus in a phase 1 study, but it’s a really welcome one.
It really gives us a sense the drug is moving the needle. So I think we’re in the best possible place we could be as we head now into phase 2.
Lel Smits: Excellent. And Persharon has outlined an adaptive multi-arm phase 2 trial, also confirmed manufacturing timelines for clinical support.
How does this design accelerate development, and also what milestones should investors be watching now?
James Garner: Well, we’ve tried to design a study that reflects the fact we’re not Pfizer or AstraZeneca or GSK. We’re a small biotech company and we need to do this in an efficient, economical way that really manages risk for our shareholders. So our study achieves this in a couple of ways.
It gives us the opportunity to test the drug in several different cancer types in parallel. So we’re not putting all our eggs in one basket. We’re going to have multiple shots on goal in the fullness of time.
But it also allows us to get early readouts. Instead of just going into a tunnel for three years and popping out the other end with a yes or no answer, we’ll have a number of readouts along the way. So we can keep investors and ourselves very regularly informed as to the data.
And then finally, the study is designed in such a way that it minimizes the number of patients and we can really sort of cut our suit according to our cloth, as we like to say. We can adapt the study according to our resources. That means we don’t have to go out and raise hundreds of millions of dollars to start.
We can start small and then build from there.
Lel Smits: Well, James, thank you for the update on the clinical progress. Also path into phase two and look forward to hearing more at Wholesale Investors Emergence Conference.
James Garner: Thank you. I’m looking forward to it.