Noxopharm confirms anti-cancer effect from lead drug

Australian anti-cancer drug developer Noxopharm will present its highly-anticipated DARRT-1 interim data at the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia (COSA) congress.

Veyonda (previously known as NOX-66) is a first-in-class, dual-acting cytotoxic and immuno-oncology drug candidate designed to enhance the effectiveness and safety of both chemotherapy and radiotherapy. 

The DARRT-1 study is a Phase 1, open-label, dose escalation and dose expansion study in metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients using dose escalation of 400mg, 800 mg and 1200mg NOX66 + palliative RT.

“We are about three-to-four weeks away from seeing the six-month data for the final 11 patients, but even before that, we are seeing an impressive anti-cancer effect from the DARRT therapy.”

“For men who have run out of treatment options, this is a significant outcome,” said Dr Graham Kelly, Executive Chairman of Noxopharm.

The DARRT-1 study showed that cancer progression was reduced in 80% of patients over a six-month period. Moreover, the results indicate that at six months, more than 50% of patients continued to experience a clinically significant reduction in pain levels.

A final statistical study report is anticipated in early 2020.

“DARRT-1 is our first study in metastatic prostate cancer and the results so far are very encouraging,” said Dr Gisela Mautner, chief medical officer of Noxopharm.

“It is impressive to see that the DARRT-1 treatment regimen was able to stabilise the disease progression in the majority of trial participants,” she added.

Dr Mautner also confirmed that the DARRT-1 treatment regimen was well-tolerated with “only minor and easily manageable side effects”.

“This has spurred us on to get underway with the next stage of trialling as quickly as possible. Our aim is to make the DARRT-2 study a US and European-based study in late-stage prostate cancer, with a view to it being the study that leads to submission for marketing approval,” said Dr Kelly.

In addition to its primary focus on Veyonda in the treatment of prostate cancer, Noxopharm is also progressing a secondary glutamate-inhibition program to develop a treatment for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).

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