SYDNEY, Dec. 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Novogen
Limited, an oncology drug development company, announced today the
signing of a Sponsored Research Agreement with Cornell University. The Weill Cornell Medical
College (WCMC) in New York will
become the cornerstone of a collaboration across Europe, US, Asia and Australia involving universities and
biotechnology companies seeking a treatment capable of delivering
long-term remission for the main form of primary brain cancer,
glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).
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The research program is focused on the super-benzopyran drug,
Trilexium (Trx).
The brain cancer program parallels that of the Company's efforts
in the area of ovarian cancer through its joint venture, CanTx Inc,
with Yale University.
CanTx has identified a Trilexium derivative (Trx-1) as having
equipotent killing ability of both ovarian cancer stem cells and
ovarian cancer somatic cells, raising the prospect for the first
time of being able with the one agent to kill the full hierarchy of
cells within an ovarian cancer. The CanTx strategy is to bring
Trx-1 into the clinic in the near-term as a generic treatment for
late-stage ovarian cancer, but then to use the Trx pharmacophore to
create a panel of drugs capable of killing ovarian cancer cells
with specific genotypes, a further unique feature of this
technology platform.
The brain cancer program has the same R&D and commercial
objectives. The near-term goal is to bring Trilexium into the
clinic as a generic treatment for GBM that has failed to respond to
Temozolomide, the only drug approved for GBM. The longer-term goal
is to identify a panel of drugs capable of providing a personalized
approach to GBM chemotherapy.
The program is based on the high potency of Trilexium against
GBM cells, with both GBM stem cells and somatic cells being killed
at equivalent dosages.
Progression of GBM following radiotherapy and chemotherapy is
believed to result from the regrowth of cancer stem cells that are
chemo-resistant. Recurrent tumor cells, like their parent GBM stem
cells, are highly drug-resistant and with increased aggression,
accounting for the poor prognosis associated with GBM.
Dr David Brown, Novogen Group
CSO, said, "The collaborative effort to date has focused on
bringing Trilexium into the clinic for the treatment of GBM, and
that goal will continue with the aim of bringing that agent into
the clinic in early 2015."
"The expansion of the collaboration to include Cornell takes the program to the next level, which
is to achieve personalized chemotherapy for patients with GBM. The
objective is to identify a panel of Trx analogs that target
individual GBM mutations within the genotype spectrum that
characterises GBM malignancies. That data then will inform our
clinical objective which is to match the best drug candidate to an
individual tumor genotype."
"WCMC has particular skills in identifying the genotype of
explants from fresh biopsies of GBM tumors. We will be utilizing
this ability to screen Trilexium analogs for activity against a
wide range of individual tumors," Brown added.
About Glioblastoma
Glioblastoma multiforme is the most common and aggressive form
of primary brain tumor. Worldwide, in developed countries, an
estimated 3.5 cases per 100,000 people are diagnosed per year.
Glioblastoma is one of the cancers most resistant to treatments and
is associated with extremely poor prognosis. Despite therapeutic
intervention (surgery/radiation/chemotherapy), glioblastoma remains
a devastating disease with a median 2-year survival rate in the
range of 10–25%.
About Novogen
Novogen Ltd 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 US 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 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 web site,
www.novogen.com.
SOURCE Novogen Limited