Noxopharm Ltd (ASX:NOX) has revealed that it is a step closer to the goal of using the company’s anti-cancer drug, NOX66, to treat primary cancers of the brain and bringing the drug to the clinic.
Three recent laboratory findings have signalled the potential use of NOX66 to improve response rates in patients in the treatment for glioblastoma multiforme, a form of malignant brain cancer.
Importantly, the findings show that the active drug in NOX66, idronoxil, enhances the anti-cancer effect of the main cancer drug on primary brain cancers.
Furthermore, Idronoxil was found to be capable of killing highly drug-resistant brain cancer cells on its own.
The effect of idronoxil remained unaffected by the expression of an active gene causing resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Noxopharm had previously reported pre-clinical findings supporting the use of NOX66 to treat secondary brain cancers like breast cancer and melanoma that spread to the brain.
The latest findings by the company extends that opportunity to the treatment of cancers that originate within the brain and that traditionally have poor response rates to therapy.
Noxopharm is aiming to bring NOX66 into the clinic in 2018 for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme.