Penetrium Bioscience to present cancer resensitization research at WCLC 2026

Penetrium Bioscience has announced that Professor Sandip Patel of UC San Diego will present research on the drug candidate ‘Penetrium’ at the 2026 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC 2026) in Seoul.

The research focuses on a ‘resensitization’ strategy that targets the tumor microenvironment (TME) rather than the cancer cells themselves. Specifically, the study explores how modulating cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF) can overcome treatment resistance. In experiments using lung cancer organoids, the addition of Penetrium restored the effectiveness of the EGFR-targeted drug gefitinib, which had been diminished by the presence of CAFs.

Similar results were observed in pancreatic cancer organoids, where Penetrium helped recover sensitivity to gemcitabine. The company plans to move forward with global clinical trials to verify if modulating the tumor microenvironment can successfully restore response to existing therapies in actual cancer patients.