SYDNEY, Feb. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Novogen Limited
(ASX: NRT; NASDAQ: NVGN), an oncology drug development company,
today announced the appointments of Justine
Stehn, PhD and Professor Peter
Gunning, PhD to roles within the Company. Dr. Stehn and
Professor Gunning are the co-inventors of the anti-tropomyosin
(ATM) drug technology platform that Novogen acquired in 2013, and
their appointments are an important step in realizing the
significant potential of this new drug platform in treating
cancer.
Novogen is focused on developing two drug technology platforms:
(i) ATMs as a safer and more effective alternative to taxane
chemotherapy, and (ii) its proprietary platform of
super-benzopyrans, a group of small molecules with high efficacy
against the full breadth of cells within a tumor, including the
cancer stem cells, which have been resistant to drugs and radiation
up to this point.
Dr. Stehn will hold the position of Director, ATM Program, and
will have full oversight over the progress of this technology into
the clinic in 2015. Professor Gunning will join the Company's
Scientific Advisory Panel for ATM Technology.
"I am extremely pleased to join Novogen at a crucial period in
the company's development," said Dr. Stehn. "The work we have
conducted thus far in understanding ATMs leads us to believe we may
have discovered a new approach to cancer therapy that could
potentially offer patients a safer and more effective alternative
to traditional chemotherapy, but the commonly-used taxane drugs in
particular. I look forward to transitioning my work in academic
research to Novogen and joining a team that is dedicated to
developing new cost-effective approaches to many of the most lethal
forms of cancer."
Dr. Stehn and Professor Gunning made a significant breakthrough
when they discovered that the microfilament components of the
cytoskeleton of cancer cells are made up largely of a particular
isoform of the protein tropomyosin known as Tm5NM1. Elimination of
Tm5NM1 significantly impacted the growth and survival of the cancer
cell without adversely effecting normal tissue.
The first generation of drug directed against this isoform
resulted in a significant anti-tumor effect in animals with human
tumor xenografts (melanoma, neuroblastoma), without the collateral
toxicity seen with previous compounds targeting the actin
microfilaments. Their work was featured on the cover of the August
(2013) edition of the journal, Cancer Research.[1]
"I've dedicated my life's work to researching the cytoskeleton
and developing treatments for children afflicted with cancer. I'm
excited to become a part of Novogen as the Company moves this
promising technology into the clinic in neuroblastoma, the most
prevalent solid tumor in children. It is a great bonus that these
drugs are likely to be equally effective against adult cancers such
melanoma, ovarian and prostate cancer," said Professor Gunning.
During 2014, Novogen expects to file up to four Investigational
New Drug (IND) applications with the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration for its ATM technology, enabling the company to
start clinical trials in 2015.
Prior to joining Novogen, Dr. Stehn was Drug Development
Coordinator and group leader of the Anti-Tropomyosin Drug
Development Group in Prof Gunning's Oncology Research Unit in the
School of Medical Sciences at the University
of New South Wales. She received her PhD from the Garvan
Institute of Medical Research in 2000. She was awarded a
prestigious National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) CJ
Martin Fellowship to support her postdoctoral positions at
Harvard University and the Centre for
Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT).
Prof. Gunning has published more than 140 research papers, and
his research focuses on diseases of childhood, primarily cancer and
muscle damage. He completed his PhD at Monash University on gene
expression in the nervous system, and then spent nine years at
Stanford University working first on
neuronal differentiation and then on the regulation of the genes
responsible for specifying the structure of muscle. His research
group discovered that tropomyosins are used to specify the spatial
and temporal properties of the cell cytoskeleton in all cells of
the body.
Graham Kelly, Ph.D., Novogen
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, said, "We are
privileged to have the two inventors of this drug technology join
us, and provide a considerable boost to our goal of entering the
clinic with a lead candidate compound in early 2015. Their intimate
knowledge of the technology, combined with our drug development
experience is a very strong combination that will help us in our
goal of finding new and highly effective approaches to treat many
of the world's most deadly cancers."
About Anti-Tropomyosin (ATM) Drugs
ATM drugs target the tropomyosin protein component of actin
microfilaments. Microfilaments, along with microtubules, form the
bulk of a cell's cytoskeleton, a largely invisible structure that
allows the cell to communicate internally and with neighboring
cells, to move, to adhere to other cells, and to divide. Drugs
targeting the cytoskeleton (micro tubular component) have been
among the most widely-used drugs in oncology for over 30 years and
include taxes (paclitaxel, docetaxel) and vinca alkaloids
(vincristine, vinblastine). However, the range of tumor types
sensitive to these drugs is limited and their action is not limited
to cancer cells, with resulting dose-limiting toxicity involving
the gut, bone marrow and nerves.
Novogen ATM drugs have been designed to target the Tm5NM1
isoform of tropomyosin specifically. To date, cell types such as
melanoma and neuroblastoma that have a high degree of inherent
insensitivity to anti-microtubular drugs (e.g. taxanes), have
proved highly sensitive to ATM drugs.
About Novogen Limited
Novogen is a public, Australian biotechnology company whose
shares trade on both the Australian Securities Exchange ('NRT') and
NASDAQ ('NVGN'). The Company is based in Sydney, Australia, and with a U.S. office in
New Haven, Connecticut. The
Company has two main drug technology platforms known as
super-benzopyrans (SBP) and anti-tropomyosins (ATM). SBP drugs
target cancer stem cells and are being developed for the treatment
of ovarian cancer and glioblastoma. ATM drugs target the cancer
cell cytoskeleton and are being developed for the treatment of
melanoma, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer and neuroblastoma.
Novogen has entered into a joint venture with Yale University known as CanTx Inc. with the aim of
developing personalized chemotherapy for patients with ovarian
cancer.
Further information is available on the Company's website,
www.novogen.com.
For Further Information Contact:
David Carey/Tanner
Kaufman
Lazar Partners Ltd.
212 867 1762
dcarey@lazarpartners.com
tkaufman@lazarpartners.com
16-20 Edgeworth David Ave, Hornsby NSW 2077
AUSTRALIA
P.O. Box 2333 Hornsby Westfield NSW 1635
AUSTRALIA
[1] Cancer Res 73, 5169-5182 (2013). Justine R. Stehn et al. A Novel Class of
Anticancer Compounds Targets the Actin Cytoskeleton in Tumor
Cells.
SOURCE Novogen Limited