Novogen’s CS-6 cytotoxic to resistant cancer cells

Shares in Novogen (ASX:NRT) briefly more than doubled in value yesterday after the company revealed its lead drug in development was highly cytotoxic to difficult-to-kill ovarian cancer stem cells in lab tests.

The oncology drug development company said its lead product in development, CS-6, has been tested against a range of ovarian cancer stem cell (OCSC) lines, including lines considered virtually indestructible by currently approved treatment regiments.

The lab study also looked at the effect of CS-6 on daughter cells of OCSC lines, mirroring the real-world situation whereby chemotherapy-resistant cancer stem cell lines survive initial treatment and propagate new daughter cells.

Novogen CSO Dr Andrew Heaton said destroying some of the cell lines tested would require doses of existing drugs so high that they would destroy the rest of the body.

“CS-6 proved to be highly cytotoxic against all cancer stem cell lines tested,” he said. “But even more impressive was the sensitivity of the cancer stem cells to CS-6, with both the cancer stem cells and their daughter cells being wiped out at drug levels down to picomolar levels.”

He said the cytotoxic effects were evident as early as four hours after administration.

Novogen CEO Dr Graham Kelly added that the result is an important milestone in the company’s goal of developing a treatment that can wipe out cancer stem cells.

“Having the ability to knock out these progenitor cells holds the potential at most of being able to block the growth and establishment of cancers, and at least of being able to prevent or slow down cancer recurrence following anticancer therapy,” Dr Kelly said.

Novogen shares climbed as high as $0.37 on Wednesday, from a closing price of $0.17 the day before. The shares have since settled back somewhat and were trading up 67.65% to $0.285 as of around 2.30 pm.

Novogen recently acquired drug developer Triaxial Pharmaceuticals and reappointed founder Dr Graham Kelly as CEO as the final stage of a restructuring involving narrowing the company’s focus back to oncology drugs.