Novogen establishes global collaboration to target brain cancer treatment

Australian biotech company Novogen (ASX: NRT) has signed a sponsored research agreement with Cornell University in the USA.

The Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC) in New York will become the cornerstone of a collaboration across Europe, the USA, Asia and Australia involving universities and biotechnology companies seeking a treatment to deliver long-term remission for the main form of primary brain cancer, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).

The research program is focused on the super-benzopyran drug, Trilexium (Trx), a lead drug candidate from Novogen’s subsidiary CanTx, its joint venture in ovarian cancer with Yale University. CanTx has identified a Trilexium derivative (Trx-1) as having equipotent killing ability of both ovarian cancer stem cells and ovarian cancer somatic cells.  The goal is to bring Trilexium into the clinic as a generic treatment for GBM that has failed to respond to Temozolomide, the only drug approved for GBM. The longer-term goal is to identify a panel of drugs capable of providing a personalized approach to GBM chemotherapy.