Novogen's TRXE-009 kills melanoma in lab trial

Shares in Novogen (ASX:NRT) nearly doubled on Tuesday after the company announced its cancer treatment candidate has shown strong promise against melanoma in preclinical studies.

TRXE-009, originally developed for brain cancers, was highly effective at killing melanoma cells during the studies.

The findings suggest that TRXE-009 could serve as a new treatment for melanoma, including secondary brain cancers due to melanoma - an area with a high unmet medical need.

It also represents the first evidence for the hypothesised link between brain cancer and melanoma, long considered a possibility due to the fact that nerve cells and melanocytes have a common origin in the embryo known as a neural crest.

Novogen CEO Dr Graham Kelly said the finding completely changes the outlook for TRXE-009. “From a drug that was due to come into the clinic specifically for the treatment of adult and childhood neural cancers, we now are presented with a prospective treatment for malignant melanoma.”

While the company is eager to bring the candidate into the clinic, its clinical efforts will remain entirely focused on its other cancer drug candidate, Cantrixil, an ovarian cancer candidate developed by its CanTx joint venture. Novogen recently raised funds to take the drug into the clinic.

Novogen (ASX:NRT) shares were trading 96.43% higher at $0.165 as of around 5.30 pm on Tuesday.