Noxopharm Ltd (ASX:NOX) has received Notices of Allowance from the Australian and European Patent Offices for patent claims covering the use of idronoxil (the active ingredient in Veyonda®) as a chemo-enhancing drug.
This progresses the company's regulatory efforts with Australia and Europe joining Japan in allowing patent claims.
Veyonda® allows the use of lower, safer dosages of chemotherapy drugs without compromising their anti-cancer effectiveness. Noxopharm is confident the combination can deliver an even stronger anti-cancer response at the same time as offering safer benefit.
The patent entitled ‘Chemotherapy improvements’ (AU:2017254774) covers a method of treating or preventing cancer by administering Veyonda® with a low dose (up to 90% of a therapeutic dose) of chemotherapy drugs belonging to the platinum or taxane families or a combination thereof. It remains valid until at least April 21, 2037, and remains under examination in the US.
Noxopharm is leveraging its drug pipeline in tandem with its flagship Veyonda® therapy to claim a share of the chemotherapy market, anticipated to reach US$635.58 million by 2027 at a 6.04% compounding annual growth rate (CAGR).
Better benefits, lower dose
“A high proportion of cancer patients are deprived of the benefits of chemotherapies because of toxic side-effects. The development of side-effects leads to drug dosages being lowered or stopped altogether. Other patients either are too ill or too elderly or just unwilling to even start chemotherapy,” Noxopharm CEO Graham Kelly said.
“That is the gap that we see Veyonda® filling by allowing the patient to still gain the benefit of the chemotherapy but at dosages that are much better tolerated.
“With an estimated US$150 billion spent globally each year on chemotherapy, that gap represents a very major medical need and commercial opportunity.
“Allowance of these claims is a major milestone in the company’s aim to see Veyonda® become a standard of care companion drug in oncology for chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy.
“With the radiotherapy and immunotherapy patent positions looking strong, the allowances announced today represent an important step towards achieving that eventual aim, something that we are confident will be attractive to major pharma companies with strong chemotherapy drug portfolios.”
Read: Noxopharm buoyed as US Patent Office allows abscopal response claims for Veyonda®
Filling a medical gap
Platinum and taxane drugs are among the most common used for chemotherapy, which remains the primary form of treatment for cancers of the breast, prostate, ovary, lung, head and neck, bladder, cervix, stomach and testicle.
Their anti-cancer use comes at a toxic cost, with wide-ranging side effects often severe enough to necessitate the reduction or complete cessation of treatment. Another subsection of patients are too ill, too old or unwilling to undergo chemotherapy because of the side effects inherent.
Idronoxil, the active ingredient in Veyonda®, increases the cancer-killing effect of common chemotherapies in preclinical settings up to magnitudes exceeding 1,000-fold, an effect limited to cancer cells without increasing the sensitivity of healthy cells to the damaging effects of the drugs.
Noxopharm’s CEP-1 study provided clinical proof-of-concept. That study combined Veyonda® with dosages of carboplatin (a platinum chemo drug) between approximately 50-75% of standard dosages in patients with a range of late-stage solid cancers that had become resistant to standard chemotherapies.
The outcome of that study was a high rate of overall tumour control despite using low dosages of carboplatin, all with a high level of tolerability.
About the company
Noxopharm Ltd is an Australian clinical-stage drug development company focused on the treatment of cancer and cytokine release syndrome (septic shock).
Noxopharm is also building a pipeline of drugs based on a unique and proprietary technology platform for other large markets of unmet medical need.
Read: Noxopharm well-funded to advance “rapidly expanding” clinical program