SYDNEY, Nov. 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Novogen
Limited (ASX: symbol NRT; Nasdaq: symbol NVGN) today announced the
filing of a family of provisional patents in the US covering
anti-tropomyosin (ATM) drug technology.
ATM drugs represent an entirely novel approach to anti-cancer
therapy, blocking the ability of cancer cells to divide and doing
so in a highly cancer-specific way. Based on their action, ATMs
belong to a class of anti-cancer drug known as anti-mitotics.
Current anti-mitotic drugs are taxanes and vinca alkaloids and
remain among the most widely prescribed anti-cancer drugs after 40
years of use.
"Filing these patents represents a critical step for the Company
in protecting such a potentially valuable piece of intellectual
property," said Graham Kelly, PhD,
Novogen CEO. "Taxanes continue to dominate anti-cancer therapy even
though they recently came off-patent. We believe that ATM drugs
have the ability to replace taxanes and to become the next
generation of anti-mitotic drugs."
Tropomyosin is a protein found in actin filaments, a key
component of the cytoskeleton of a cell. Actin filaments provide a
cell with the ability to contract. One of the ways that contraction
serves a cell is during cell division when separation of the two
daughter cells occurs by the formation of a ring known as the
contraction ring. When that ring tightens, the two cells
effectively separate.
ATM drugs target a particular isoform of tropomyosin known as
Tm5NM1 on which cancer cells are highly dependent. Targeting this
particular tropomyosin isoform prevents formation of the
contraction ring and hence the ability of the cancer cells to
divide.
"The current generation of anti-mitotic drugs, despite their
widespread use, comes with two key negatives," Dr. Kelly added.
"The first of those is a serious side-effect profile. The second is
that many types of cancer are inherently insensitive to them. ATM
drugs to date are showing an apparent lack of serious toxicity as
well as an ability to kill cancer cells that are insensitive to
taxanes."
Novogen is focusing its ATM drug development program on prostate
cancer, melanoma and children's cancers where it would be used as a
monotherapy, as well as adjuvant therapy in combination with the
Company's super-benzopyran drug technology in order to provide
comprehensive assault on the full hierarchy of cells within
tumors.
About Novogen
Novogen Ltd is a public Australian
biotechnology company whose shares trade on both the Australian
Stock Exchange (symbol 'NRT') and NASDAQ (symbol 'NVGN'). The
Company is based in Sydney,
Australia and is focused on the development of novel
anti-cancer drugs based on two proprietary drug technologies - the
super-benzopyran chemical family and anti-tropomyosin drug
technology.
Tm5NM1
Tm5NM1 is one of approximately 40 different
isoforms of the protein, tropomyosin, that occur naturally in the
human body. Tropomyosins combine with the protein, actin, to form
actin filaments, making up part of the cell's cytoskeleton. Human
cancer cells have been shown to be highly dependent on Tm5NM1 for
their survival and ability to divide.
About Super-Benzopyrans (SBPs)
SBPs are small
molecules constructed around a simple benzopyran scaffold. Members
of this family of drugs are showing high potency against both
cancer stem cells and somatic cancer cells recovered from both
ovarian cancers and glioblastoma cancers.
SOURCE Novogen Limited