Pharmacyte Biotech Inc (OTCMKTS:PMCB) Remains A Top Pick Ahead Of Pre-IND Meeting

Pharmacyte Biotech Inc (OTCMKTS:PMCB) picked up a more than 30% run as the company kicked off the week, but general sentient looks to be pretty weak right now. We have looked at the company on a number of occasions year to date, and we have maintained a bullish thesis across the period. We still hold this bullish bias, and we think that the company's approach to its development related news stream, while not particularly beneficial for shareholders looking to capitalize on short term, news driven gains, is indicative of its core focus on bringing its pipeline to commercialization.The most recent announcements, one early month and this week (the above mentioned) are worth touching one, so here's an update to the company's operations, and a look at what we are looking for next as indicative of medium term strength.So, by way of an introduction for those readers that missed our previous coverage, Pharmacyte is a Silver Spring, MD based junior, with a core focus on using its proprietary technology to cure – initially – certain types of cancer, and beyond oncology, diabetes. The technology in question is very early stage, but it's a very elegant mechanism of action if it an be proven effective, and elegant MOAs are always an attractive quality in the development stage arena.It's called Cell in a Box. We said its MOA is elegant, not its name. If not particularly elegant, however, its name describes the concept pretty accurately. In order to understand how it works, it's first necessary to touch on how traditional chemotherapy works. Simply put, a physician introduces the chemotherapy agent, whatever it may be, into the patient's system through IV. The agent passes through the liver, where it gets activated by a specific cell – a cell generally only found in the liver. This liver pass activation isn’t particularly efficient, but it's a good general practice as it pretty much guarantees activation of the chemotherapy agent, across a full range of agent variations.Here's the important part.Chemotherapy is so toxic because this liver pass activation requires large doses to ensure enough of the agent reaches the cancer's location. This, and the fact that the agent is not just limited to the cancer's location. It rushes around the body affecting large numbers of healthy cells and environments.Pharmacyte is trying to make chemotherapy far more targeted using its technology. It's pretty simple. The company takes the cell required for activation (the one that would normally reside in the liver) and puts it in a capsule – the box, in the name. A physician then injects the cell and the capsule very close to the cancerous cells, in the target primary indication these are pancreatic cancer cells, and introduces a chemo agent through IV. The difference, is that because the agent doesn’t need a liver pass to activate (it activates when it comes in to contact with the Cell in a Box) the patient only requires one third the concentration of the agent as a dose. This reduction in dosing requirement should translate to a reduction in adverse event side effects, meaning the technology has the potential to totally change the face of cancer treatment.Now, it's very early days, but Pharmacyte has data in hand that demonstrates efficacy, and it's about to head into a pre-IND meeting with the FDA, the outcome of which should underpin an IND submission and acceptance. In turn, this should precede what the company hopes will be a pivotal trial, attempting to build on the already available data and combine with the latter to form the basis of a biologics license application (BLA) in the US.We said it last time, and we'll say it again – cash is not great. Around $2 million on hand leaves the chances of dilution at pretty much certain, and this may put some investors off taking an early stage position ahead of a pivotal initiation. For those that are willing to absorb the hit, however, and we think this willingness is very much justifiable, there's plenty of upside on offer to offset any value loss longer term.We will be updating our subscribers as soon as we know more. For the latest updates on PMCB, sign up below!Disclosure: We have no position in PMCB and have not been compensated for this article.