Australia-based clinical stage drug development company, Noxopharm Limited (ASX: NOX) has been creating interest in the world of cancer for its potentially transformative and innovative therapy in late-stage prostate cancer.
It aims to bring hope to cancer patients who have reached the end of their treatment journey and have no standard treatment options remaining, except palliative therapy for pain-relief. The current focus is on prostate cancer, with trials for other cancers planned.
Several developments are taking place in the world of cancer treatments, but not all will be successful in making a long-term impact on the overall survival and halting of disease progression of all patients. In this regard, Noxopharm is currently trialling its lead drug candidate Veyonda® (NOX66) at the end of the prostate cancer treatment spectrum, where the only remaining treatment option currently is palliative care therapy.
It is worth noting that Noxopharm has undertaken key programs that have Veyonda® at the centre of its drug development programs, including two radiotherapy -enhancement programs, namely, (LuPIN) which is the radiopharmaceutical lutetium-177 in combination with Veyonda® and DARRT (Direct and Abscopal Response to RadioTherapy) using Veyonda® combined with external beam radiotherapy. There is also a chemotherapy- enhancement program (CEP). Both LuPIN and DARRT are trials in late-stage prostate cancer.
With the encouraging interim data emerging from DARRT-1, Noxopharm is planning for a multi-national DARRT-2 study in hundreds of prostate cancer patients in 2020 across North America, Australasia and Europe.
All trials so far have shown Veyonda® to be well-tolerated in the end-stage patients studied. DARRT and LuPIN trials to date have shown promising results in terms of tumour response, PSA and pain reduction.
Furthermore, the extension of the existing programs for other solid cancer types is expected to help aid the company in its goal of securing marketing approval for Veyonda® and ultimately its successful commercialisation.
Noxopharm’s vision to become a major drug discovery and drug development company comes from the strategic planning of its pre-clinical pipeline, to include a brain cancer treatment drug program and cancer stem cell drug program.
