Noxopharm Ltd (ASX:NOX) has delivered encouraging preclinical data from its novel ‘dual-cell’ therapy drug that attacks pancreatic cancer in a different and innovative way.
The company had conducted an 18-month study as part of an ongoing collaboration with the University of NSW (UNSW) to test the new drug developed by the company, known as CRO-67.
Major findings were that CRO-67 killed tumour cells as well as barrier cells in samples taken from six patients who had their tumours surgically removed.
Pancreatic cancer is especially difficult to treat because the tumours are surrounded by a dense barrier of cells that protects them from anti-cancer drugs, as well as from the body’s immune system.
Encouragingly, the ‘Dual cell’ effect refers to killing both cancer cells and their barrier cells to achieve a more profound anti-cancer treatment outcome.
“Valuable opportunity”
Noxopharm CEO Dr Gisela Mautner said: “The development of new treatments is a core part of our expanded drug development strategy and we are pleased that the Chroma™ platform is showing such promising initial results.
“What makes this study so exciting is that it is the closest you can get to studying human cancer in the laboratory before giving the drug to patients.
“It is still early days and there is a lot of work we need to do, but we are on an exciting path.
“The market for pancreatic cancer drugs is sizeable and clearly underserved, which presents a valuable opportunity for Noxopharm.”
Key results
Patient samples were treated with CRO-67 at doses of 10, 20 and 50 micrograms per millilitre and a dose-response relationship were found, such that greater amounts of the drug resulted in highly statistically significant effects.
At the highest dose level and when compared to untreated controls:
- The number of tumour cells decreased by 85% (p
- The number of barrier cells decreased by 87% (p
- Cell replication decreased by 73% (p
- Overall cell death increased 6.2-fold (p
The study used a new cutting-edge model developed by UNSW that grows whole-tissue tumours and keeps pancreatic tumour cells as well as barrier cells alive in the laboratory for 12 days after they have been surgically removed from actual cancer patients. The tumour tissues were then treated with CRO-67 and studied under conditions as close as possible to real life.
Forward plan
The study will now be followed by more tests on the therapeutic efficacy of CRO-67, as well as a deeper analysis of the mechanisms by which CRO-67 exerts its ‘dual-cell’ targeting effects.
Several additional studies will need to be performed to support the research required to move CRO-67 toward clinical trials.
In terms of commercial strategy, Noxopharm has filed comprehensive patent applications to protect the value of its intellectual property in this area.
The Chroma™ platform is one of two preclinical programs that support Noxopharm’s science-driven strategy to develop and progress the most promising life-saving therapies.
The second is the Sofra™ technology platform that focuses on inflammation and autoimmune diseases.
Professor Phoebe Phillips from UNSW said: “The results demonstrated CRO-67 has the potential to improve patient outcomes via a ‘dual-cell’ targeting activity that can attack tumour cells directly while also destroying the tumour’s surrounding ‘helper cells’.
“Traditional chemotherapeutics in this area have only targeted tumour cells and not the surrounding helper cells, and therefore their treatment effect is very limited.”