30 April 2020
Noxopharm (ASX:NOX) today releases details of the radiographic review of its DARRT-1 clinical study and is pleased to report that it shows a major benefit from a combination of Veyonda® and low-dose radiotherapy.
The rationale behind DARRT is the use of a low dose of radiation to trigger an immune response to the cancer in one particular tumour, with Veyonda® then promoting a generalised spread of that immune response to tumours elsewhere in the body. An anti-cancer response in distant non-irradiated lesions is known as an ‘abscopal response’ and has become a major new direction in oncology, offering the ability to achieve a significant anti-cancer effect with low, well-tolerated doses of radiation.
Dr Graham Kelly, Noxopharm CEO, said, “This is an exciting outcome that vindicates our belief in the anticancer properties of Veyonda®. “There is growing interest in using combination targeted radiotherapy and immunotherapy drugs such as checkpoint inhibitors, with reports of some abscopal responses being obtained in certain cancers such as breast, lung and urological cancers and melanoma. But to our knowledge, this is the first time that anyone has been able to obtain a meaningful abscopal response rate in prostate cancer. Prostate cancer has developed a reputation as a cancer with poor immune responsiveness, but this DARRT-1 data suggests that this isn’t the case. Today’s result positions Veyonda® at the forefront of this emerging area of oncology and suggests that we have an exciting new prospective treatment for end-stage prostate cancer.”
Read the full ASX release.
