Noxopharm secures $23 million to fund clinical studies in several cancers

Pharma News: Australian clinical stage drug development company Noxopharm has successfully completed a A$23 million share placement to professional, institutional and sophisticated investors.

Noxopharm CEO, Dr Graham Kelly said: ”The support received from new, high-quality investors as well as some existing shareholders demonstrates a shared vision in the potential of our technology. That vision is to see Veyonda become the drug of choice to restore cancer-eradicating immune function to tumours, the so-called cold-to-hot effect. This absence of immune function in most human tumours is now recognised as the primary factor holding back current cancer therapies from working to full effect in most patients.

“The significance of what we are doing is that Veyonda, with its unique cold-to-hot effect, is the first opportunity medicine has had of seeing whether this problem can be rectified across a range of major cancer types. If Veyonda proves to be the answer we believe it to be, then the face of cancer therapy is set to change in a dramatic way.”

The funds raised in this placement are intended to provide sufficient runway to show whether that vision can be realised.

The Company is testing the benefit of the cold-to-hot action across three programs:

1. The first is with checkpoint inhibitors. The IONIC Program is testing Veyonda in combination with the Bristol Myers-Squibb immuno-oncology drug, Opdivo.
2. The second is with external radiotherapy. The DARRT Program is testing Veyonda in combination with external beam radiotherapy
3. The third is with intravenous radiotherapy. The LuPIN Program is testing Veyonda in combination with the Novartis’ radiopharmaceutical drug, 177Lu-PSMA-617.

“Planning for both IONIC and DARRT studies has been in the works for many months, but this fresh injection of funds will ensure that both studies can start recruiting patients as soon as possible in the new year. When combined with next year’s anticipated Federal Government R&D Rebate, we expect to be funded through into 2022,” Kelly added.

Use of Funds

Placement proceeds will be applied to the following activities:

• Commencement of the Phase I/II IONIC-1 study to be conducted in 3 Australian hospitals in 30 patients with a variety of late-stage cancers
• Commencement of the Phase II DARRT-2 multinational study to be conducted in up to 200 patients with late-stage prostate, breast or lung cancers
• Completion of the Phase II LuPIN study in 56 men with late-stage prostate cancer
• Completion of the NOXCOVID-1 study in European hospitals in 40 patients experiencing moderate lung dysfunction associated with COVID-19 disease
• Two exciting drug discovery programs intended to supply additional first-in-class pipeline drug candidates in the fields of (i) brain cancer, and (ii) pancreatic and gallbladder cancers.