In 2023, pancreatic cancer transitioned from being a rare form to a common cancer in Australia—a troublesome statistic, seeing as it has very low survival rates of about 12%. The symptoms of pancreatic cancer are in advanced stages, making it difficult to treat. Plus, other complications are associated with its development (such as the tumour’s inaccessibility to drugs). Undoubtedly, there is a desperate need for better diagnosis and treatment solutions.
One company working on this is Aussie biotech company Noxopharm (ASX: NOX). Recent in vivo research findings from its innovative dual-cell CRO-67 preclinical drug candidate indicate that CRO-67 can substantially decrease tumour size in living organisms by an average of 56.7% when compared to untreated subjects, thus expanding survival rates.
Noxopharm CEO, Dr Gisela Mautner, said, “These results are encouraging because they demonstrate that CRO-67 has a strong effect in different settings such as human cell lines and mice, as well as in patient explants. While we are also planning a further study to demonstrate efficacy in a different model, we are already moving ahead and developing the dosing and formulation for patients.”
What’s more, the findings from its Chroma platform have been presented at the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer. They are showcased by Noxopharm’s long-term collaborator, the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney, as an oral and poster presentation at the prestigious conference in Boston.
Noxopharm has a science-based approach that resulted in the creation of the Chroma™ technology platform. On it, Noxopharm has built a collection of special drug candidates with new properties to make them more effective against cancer. Most of these promising drugs in the Chroma platform—including the CRO-67 drug—primarily show activity against cancer, and some of them might also have the ability to reduce inflammation.
CRO-67 takes an inventive approach to treat pancreatic cancer. This type of cancer poses particular challenges for treatment because its tumours are shielded by a dense layer of cells. These cells block anti-cancer medications and the body’s immune defences from reaching (and subsequently treating) the tumour. Furthermore, pancreatic cancer commonly exhibits significant genetic differences among individual patients, making it even more difficult to create drugs that can effectively address a wide range of these variations.
The current study with UNSW builds upon research conducted in 2022, which demonstrated that CRO-67 effectively eliminated both tumour and barrier cells in samples taken from patients who had undergone surgical tumour removal.
The new findings originate from an experiment in which human pancreatic cancer tumour cells were implanted beneath the skin of mice. These mice were subsequently administered CRO-67 for a period of 21 days, during which the size of the tumours was regularly measured.
Following the completion of the drug treatment, CRO-67 exhibited a significant reduction in tumour volume in living organisms, averaging 56.7% compared to untreated controls. Moreover, CRO-67 also slowed down the rate of tumour growth by 48%. The median time for the tumours to double in size when treated with CRO-67 was 8.5 days, compared to only 4.4 days for the untreated controls.
The results support the Company’s confidence in the drug as a high priority for commercialisation.
Mautner affirmed, “The disease is set to become the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the US by 2040, and has a very poor five-year survival rate of about 9% from the time of diagnosis. Very few new treatments have been released over the past decades, meaning there is an urgent need to develop innovative drugs and therefore a major opportunity for Noxopharm to make a significant contribution in this space.”
At the end of FY23, Noxopharm’s cash equivalents stood at $3 million, down from FY22’s $14 million, as it continues investing in R&D and reprioritises its business goals to reduce operational costs.
Alinda is a Business Reporter for The Sentiment
Latest posts by Alinda Gupta (see all)
- Ovanti’s iSentric signs contracts worth $14.4m with Malaysian commercial bank - June 27, 2024
- Baby Bunting fights back from retail downturn with 5-year strategy, includes Gen-Z focus and self-funded growth - June 27, 2024
- CLEO meets with US FDA to develop strategy for ovarian cancer test launch - June 26, 2024
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.