Novogen, CanTx establish proof of concept for Trx-1

Novogen (ASX:NRT) and CanTx - the company’s joint venture with Yale University - have completed successful proof-of-concept studies into the potency of experimental anticancer drug Trx-1.

In animal models, the companies have demonstrated the potency of Trx-1 in the treatment of ovarian cancer when delivered into the peritoneal cavity.

Trx-1 significantly retarded the growth of highly chemo-resistant, human ovarian cancer stem cells, reducing tumour burden and carcinomas.

The results to date indicate that intra-peritoneal Trx-1 could be used as a first-line therapy for ovarian cancer, the companies said.

The first in-human studies of the drug are now expected to commence in the first half of next year, following the filing of an Investigational New Drug application with the US FDA.

Results from the study were presented at the Drug Discovery and Therapy 2014 World Congress in Boston by Dr Gil Mor, Professor of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Reproductive Science at Yale School of Medicine.

Mor said that ovarian cancer parent stem cells are highly resistant to chemotherapy. When chemo-sensitive daughter cells are killed off with chemotherapy, these parent cells respond by generating daughter cells that display the same level of chemo-resistance as the parents.

“This is why when ovarian cancer recurs it is so difficult, if not impossible, to treat,” he said. “An obvious strategy is to be more successful in treating primary disease, so that we stop the development of recurrent disease. We need to be able to kill the ovarian cancer stem cells before they have the chance to produce a second generation of highly chemo-resistant daughter cells.”

The animal study data suggests that Trx-1 could provide an answer to this problem, Mor added.