Alchemia CSO wins Telstra businesswoman award

Alchemia (ASX:ACL) Chief Scientific Officer Dr Tracey Brown has been named Telstra’s Victorian Business Woman of the Year.

Brown, inventor of Alchemia’s HyACT cancer drug delivery platform, also won the Telstra Private and Corporate Sector Award.

She will now go in the running to also be named National Australian Business Woman of the Year. The winner will be announced in late November. Telstra’s Business Woman Awards have been running for 20 years.

HyACT is used to transport cancer drugs to tumours using hyaluronic acid. Candidates under development include HA-Irinotecan. Alchemia recently achieved database lock in a phase III trial of HA-Irinotecan in second- or third-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer.

“I am honoured to receive these awards and I am extremely proud that my contribution to both Alchemia and the wider drug research industry in Victoria has been recognised,” Brown said.

“I have been working tirelessly for more than 15 years to develop better, less toxic and more effective cancer treatments. My mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at just 53 years of age, and while supporting her through this devastating disease and chemotherapy treatments, I realised that there is significant unmet need for better therapies.”

Alchemia (ASX:ACL) shares were trading 1.67% higher at $0.61 as of around 1.30 pm on Friday.