SYDNEY--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Australian clinical-stage drug development company Noxopharm (ASX:NOX) has reported pre-clinical data confirming a survival benefit of adding Veyonda^® to ¹⁷⁷lutetium-PSMA-617 (LuPSMA) treatment in prostate cancer. This result validates the survival benefit of the same combination seen in a recently completed Phase I/II trial of Veyonda in men with end-stage metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).

Pre-Clinical Data Confirm Survival Benefit of Combination Treatment

A study in mice bearing human prostate cancer xenografts, and led by Professor Kristofer Thurecht, Ph.D., at The University of Queensland, confirmed a potent ability of Veyonda to enhance the cancer-killing effect of LuPSMA treatment.

“The combination of Veyonda with LuPSMA exhibited an impressive synergistic therapeutic response, with sustained and almost complete regression of the tumor and minimally observed systemic toxicity,” said Dr. Thurecht. “This combined response was not observed in any of the animals treated with monotherapy.”

Results Support Survival Benefit Found in Phase I/II Clinical Trial

The results of Noxopharm’s LuPIN Phase I/II clinical trial were published recently in The Journal of Nuclear Medicine and showed a median overall survival of 19.7 months with combination therapy in men with mCRPC with no remaining treatment options.

“The LuPIN study was a non-randomized study, so the question remained of how much the remarkable outcome of 19.7 months was due to the combination effect versus LuPSMA monotherapy alone,” said Noxopharm CEO, Graham Kelly. “The pre-clinical study results confirmed that LuPSMA monotherapy had an impressive anti-cancer effect on tumor growth — but when Veyonda was added, the tumors mostly disappeared.”

About Noxopharm

Noxopharm Limited (ASX:NOX) is an Australian clinical-stage drug development company focused on the treatment of cancer and cytokine storm (septic shock).

Veyonda® is the Company’s first pipe-line drug candidate currently in Phase 2 clinical trialling. Veyonda® has two main drug actions – a moderating effect on the ceramide/sphingosine-1-phosphate balance and inhibition of STING signalling. Activity against the former target contributes to its dual-acting oncotoxic and immunomodulatory functions designed to enhance the effectiveness and safety of standard oncology treatments, i.e., chemotherapies, radiation therapies and immune checkpoint inhibitors. Activity against the latter target provides an anti-inflammatory effect, as well as contributing to an anti-cancer action, but also potentially blocking septic shock.

Noxopharm is running comprehensive drug discovery programs in both oncology and inflammation, and is the major shareholder of US biotechnology company, Nyrada Inc (ASX:NYR), active in the areas of drug development for cardiovascular and neurological diseases.

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