Novogen names first member of advisory board

Novogen (ASX:NRT) has named professor Paul de Souza as chairman of its new medical advisory board as it prepares to take ovarian cancer candidate CS-6 into the clinic.

New chairman de Souza has extensive oncology experience - he is currently the foundation professor of medical oncology at the University of Western Sydney and the director of the Translational Cancer Research Unit of the Ingham Institute of Medical Research.

He is also conjoint professor in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of NSW and director of the Department of Medical Oncology at Liverpool Hospital.

Novogen is establishing the board to advise it on the design and conduct of clinical trials. Membership will be honorary, so the members can also act as trial investigators.

Novogen plans to draw from a pool of experts from Australia, the USA and Europe for the remaining appointments to the advisory board.

“Professor de Souza’s appointment is timely as we now stand on the verge of bringing CS-6 into the clinic ... earlier than originally predicted,” Novogen CEO Dr Graham Kelly said.

“Our goal is to [start with] a joint Phase 1a/1b in Australia and Hong Kong in patients with late-stage cancer with a focus on Temozolomide-resistant glioblastoma multiforme and carboplatin-refractory ovarian cancer.”

The company then plans to apply to the US FDA to initiate clinical studies in the market in 2014.

Lab results suggest that CS-6 could be cytotoxic to chemotherapy-resistant ovarian cancer stem cell lines.

In July, Novogen secured a funding arrangement giving it access to up to $5 million to put towards CS-6 clinical development.

Novogen shares were trading unchanged at $0.165 as of around 12.30 pm on Wednesday.