Bionomics' renal cancer trial finds key subgroups

Bionomics (ASX:BNO) said a phase II trial of anticancer candidate BNC105 in renal cancer has helped isolate the subgroups for which the treatment may be most effective, as well as biomarkers for identifying these patients.

The phase II DISRUPTOR-1 trial compared the use of BNC105 in combination with Afinitor in metastatic renal cell cancer against the use of Afinitor alone.

The results show a similar rate of progression-free survival (PFS) for patients in both the Afinitor + BNC105 arm and the Afinitor-only arm. But patients with liver metastases treated with BNC105 showed a 3.8-month increase in PFS compared to those receiving Afinitor alone.

Likewise, patients in the BNC105 arm with previous nephrectomy showed a three-month trend towards improvement in PFS, and PFS increased by around 50% in patients with Furhman Grade 2 histological differentiation grade.

The trial also looked at biomarkers previously associated with BNC105 activity. Analysis shows that biomarker changes were associated with disease progression at six months.

Bionomics CEO Dr Deborah Rathjen said the trial has been groundbreaking. “The DISRUPTOR-1 trial has been the first of its kind in testing the combination of an mTOR inhibitor with a vascular disrupting agent in renal cancer,” she said.

Identifying the potential biomarkers is also significant, she said, as they “allow pretreatment selection of patients most likely to benefit from BNC105”.

Data from the trial will meanwhile help Bionomics identify how best to employ the drug in treating other cancer types, Rathjen added.

The DISRUPTOR-1 trial enrolled 139 patients with metastatic renal cell cancer at sites in the US, Singapore and Australia.

Bionomics (ASX:BNO) shares were trading 28.38% lower at $0.53 as of around 1 pm on Wednesday.