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Noxopharm (ASX:NOX) treatment combinations deliver “high anti-cancer response”

Health Care
ASX:NOX      MCAP $17.53M
15 February 2021 14:20 (AEST)

A trial combining treatments from Noxpharm (NOX) and Novartis has delivered a high anti-cancer response in men with end-stage prostate cancer.

In the LuPIN study, which was formally presented to the American Society of Clinical Oncology earlier this month, half of the patients survive at least 19.7 months, with 19 of the 56 still alive.

While a placebo-controlled study is still required to determine the exact degree of survival benefit from the drug combination, Noxopharm has coined this a “remarkable outcome”, given the patients had very limited survival prospects and had exhausted all standard treatments.

The company also noted 46 per cent of men were able to complete the full six cycles of treatment, which it says carries important clinical and commercial implications.

Out of the 56 men in the trial, the drug combination was found to reduce prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels in the blood — a marker of prostate cancer cell activity — by more than 50 per cent in 34 of the patients, with 48 experiencing some level of PSA reduction.

“The top-level comment is that the LuPIN drug combination of Veyonda and the Novartis radiopharmaceutical drug, 177lutetium-PSMA-617, has delivered a high anticancer response, resulting in a major survival outcome in men who have exhausted effective treatment options,” Noxpharm Chief Executive Graham Kelly explained.

“All in all, we see this result as heralding a new era in the treatment of Stage four prostate cancer,” he concluded.

In terms of next steps, Noxopharm says statistical analysis will be conducted at the end of the study to determine if there is a dose-response effect of Veyonda.

Noxpharm shares are 2.17 per cent in the green, trading at 94 cents each at 2:04 pm AEDT.

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