Novogen acquires cancer drug tech from Genscreen

Novogen (ASX:NRT) has acquired an Australian-developed drug technology it plans to develop as a potentially major new class of anticancer drug.

The company has picked up anti-tropomyosin (anti-Tm) drug technology from Melbourne-based private biotech Genscreen, in a transaction based solely on royalty payments for future product sales.

Anti-Tm drugs target the protein Tm5NM1, a component of the microfilament within the cytoskeleton of cancer cells. Inhibition of this protein can effectively block the ability of a cancer cell to function and divide.

Chemotherapeutics that target the cytoskeleton of cancer cells, including the taxanes and vinca alkaloids, are among the most commonly-prescribed anticancer drugs. These drugs target the part of the cytoskeleton known as microtubes.

But these drugs have some serious drawbacks, including side-effects caused by activity against the cytoskeleton of non-cancer cells, limited to no effectiveness in some cancer types, and a rapid ability of cancer cells to build a resistance.

Cancer drugs that instead target the microfilament of cancer cells have previously been too toxic to consider using, due to the role microfilament plays in muscle contraction in the diaphragm and the heart.

Australian scientists have recently overcome this roadblock with the finding that tropomyosins are distinguishable as muscle or non-muscle varieties, and a discovery that Tm5NM1 is largely restricted to cancer cells.

Genscreen CEO Ian Dixon said anti-TMs have the potential to offer significant benefits over the taxane class of chemotherapeutics.

“Unlike the taxanes, we see the anti-Tms as having so much less toxicity, plus being more broadly active, including against cancers such as melanoma that taxanes have little effect against,” he said.

Lab tests and animal studies support the anticancer effect and safety of targeting the protein, Novogen CEO Dr Graham Kelly said. He said the company plans to develop the drug candidate to complement its pipeline of super-benzopyran drugs.

“Our super-benzopyran family of drugs are highly effective against cancer stem cells, a basic requirement of successful longer term cancer therapy. But we still need to eliminate all cancer cells and that is where the potential potency of an anti-tropomyosin drug comes in,” he said.

“Rather than relying on a blend of super-benzopyran drugs and currently available standard therapy to achieve across-the-board eradication of all cancer cells, the anti-Tm drugs now give us the opportunity to own the full complement of effective drugs.”

Novogen (ASX:NRT) shares were trading 6.06% higher at $0.175 as of around 1.30 pm on Wednesday.