Is this healthcare stock under investors' radar - ASX: NOX?

A drug development company, Noxopharm Limited (ASX: NOX) announced that Goodridge Nominees Pty Ltd has become a new substantial holder in the company on 19 March 2019. This comes after the Goodridge Nominees acquired 5.43 million more shares in Noxopharm at a cash consideration of $2.118 million on 19 March 2019.

Now, Goodridge Nominees’ total shareholding in Noxopharm sits at 9,713,964 shares that is equivalent to 7.95% voting power in the company as on the date Goodridge Nominees became the substantial holder.

The company further announced the excellent result from the dose-ranging component of the DARRT-1 study, recently. The interim outcome outlined the Veyonda® ability to produce an anti-cancer response on combination with low-dose radiotherapy applied to a single metastasis (lesion).

Noxopharm is a clinical-stage drug development company that has an international presence with offices in Sydney, New York and Hong Kong. It is primarily engaged in the development of drugs based on the structure of phenolic chemical with its first pipeline product, Veyonda®. The company’s product pipeline includes a number of other drug candidates for both oncology within NOX and non-oncology indications in the subsidiary company, Nyrada Inc.

The Group aims to evaluate the DARRT treatment regimen across the full spectrum of prostate cancer from early-stage to late-stage. Its Direct and Abscopal Response to Radiotherapy (DAART) program is designed to test the capability of Veyonda® with respect to increasing its response to palliative (pain relief) dosages of radiotherapy against cancer cells throughout the body.

The development of DARRT regimen in advanced prostate cancer is currently underway, targeting to provide better palliation as well as extending survival in a well-tolerated way. Initially aiming at prostate cancer, the company intends to extend the DARRT treatment regimen into other forms of solid cancer.

In the recently conducted Stage 1 of DARRT-1 study, 12 patients were given three different doses of Veyonda® including four patients per dose. The test was designed to gauge the benefit and risk profile of doses among patients.

Noxopharm reported that all three doses of Veyonda® had no severe side effects and were well tolerated as per the Interim (12-week) DARRT-1 report. The rationale of Veyonda® is to activate the patients’ internal immune system which could potentially provide a transformative approach to utilise radiotherapy in oncology. As a result, low dosages of focused radiation would be required to create a generalised anti-cancer effect.

Chief Medical Officer of Noxopharm, MD Greg van Wyk, stated that the interim data has been encouraging for the company as the patients could receive the radiotherapy to alleviate their pain and end their treatment journey to improve their remaining quality of life. That an apparent reduction in tumour load in the number of patients along with other clinical benefit has strengthened the company’s objective of extending survival in patients by advancing Veyonda® to market.

Recently, the company has trialled to combine Veyonda® as an adjunct therapy to a chemotherapy drug, aiming to escalate the sensitivity of widely-used chemotherapies and subsequently bringing down the well-known damaging side-effects.

Noxopharm expects to release its end-of-study 24-week result in early May 2019. The management believes that 24-week data will be more essential as PSA level in few men continue to fall at the 12-week point. Therefore, 24-week data is expected to give a better and clearer picture of the clinical benefits and how advantageous the treatment is likely to have on survival times.

NOX stock price surged up by 4.938% to settle the day’s trade at $0.425 on 21 March 2019. Today, on 22 March, the stock is trading flat at $0.425 (as at 1:50 PM AEST).

To know more about Noxopharm’s recent developments and studies, please click here.

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