Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers worldwide, with approximately 466,000 deaths each year. In Europe, around 132,000 people die annually from the disease, including about 3,150 in the Netherlands. Existing treatments still offer limited survival prospects. Only 5% of patients with pancreatic cancer survive five years after diagnosis.

Pepper Therapeutics sees potential in the use of the obsolete diabetes drug phenformin, a biguanide. Metformin, phenformin’s closely related diabetes drug, has been studied previously but was found to be insufficiently effective. Recent preclinical research shows that phenformin penetrates tumours more effectively than metformin, making it a more promising candidate.

Pepper Therapeutics aims to repurpose phenformin as a therapy for pancreatic cancer and to make this therapy affordable and broadly available for patients worldwide.