SYDNEY, Feb. 11, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Novogen Limited (ASX:NRT; NASDAQ:NVGN) today announced the lodgement of final specifications of a patent that covers the Company's first family of super-benzopyran compounds that to date has yielded leading drug candidates TRXE-002, TRXE-009 and TRXE-0025.
Super-benzopyrans represent a new chemical structure of increasing complexity and diversity. Based on the degree of that complexity, Novogen chemists have identified at least 6 patent families of related compounds. The final patent specifications just lodged represent the first of those families, with some hundreds of molecules designed and manufactured over the past 12 months. The focus with this particular family of compounds has been their ability to kill cancer stem cells. The underlying pharmacophore responsible for this activity has been identified and forms a key aspect of the patent.
Work is progressing on the remaining 5 potential patent families to determine the underlying pharmacophores relevant to various activities including the promotion of neurogenesis, to the promotion of functionality of stem cells with genetic abnormalities, and to the treatment of lysosomal storage diseases. Once those potential patent families have been reduced to practice, then the appropriate patents will be lodged.
Andrew Heaton PhD, Novogen Group Vice-President of Drug Discovery and Manufacture, said, "The last 12 months has been a highly productive time of reducing our super-benzopyran drug discovery program to practice, so allowing this PCT final specification to be lodged. Happily, we also are seeing these drugs successfully come through their large-scale manufacturing process ahead of a number of clinical trials over the next 12 months. We have not hit any manufacturing hurdles, confirming the simpler manufacturing process that is a key part of the patent."
Graham Kelly PhD, Novogen Group CEO, said, "Andrew's drug discovery team has delivered an exciting opportunity to the Company. These new families of not previously seen compounds are proving an extraordinarily rich source of potential new therapeutics. It is remarkable that the same underlying molecular structure can yield compounds of such diverse biological activity. This pleiotropy is what makes this family of compounds so valuable."
"The lodgement of this patent also opens the way for our collaborators to present data for conference presentations and publications where disclosure of molecular structure is required," Kelly added.
About Novogen Limited
Novogen is a public, Australian drug-development company whose shares trade on both the Australian Securities Exchange ('NRT') and NASDAQ ('NVGN'). The Novogen Group includes a New Haven CT – based joint venture company, CanTx Inc., with Yale University.
Novogen has two main drug technology platforms: super-benzopyrans (SBPs) and anti-tropomyosins (ATMs). SBP compounds have been created to kill the full range of cells within a tumor, but particularly the cancer stem cells. The ATM compounds target the microfilament component of the cancer cell and when used in conjunction with standard anti-microtubular drugs, result in comprehensive and fatal destruction of the cancer cell's cytoskeleton. Ovarian cancer, colorectal cancer, malignant ascites, prostate cancer, neural cancers (glioblastoma, neuroblastoma in children) and melanoma are the key clinical indications being pursued, with the ultimate objective of employing both technologies as a unified approach to first-line therapy.
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Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The Company has tried to identify such forward-looking statements by use of such words as "expects," "appear," "intends," "hopes," "anticipates," "believes," "could," "should," "would," "may," "target," "evidences" and "estimates," and other similar expressions, but these words are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements. Such statements include, but are not limited to any statements relating to the Company's drug development program, including, but not limited to the initiation, progress and outcomes of clinical trials of the Company's drug development program, including, and any other statements that are not historical facts. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those risks and uncertainties relating to the difficulties or delays in financing, development, testing, regulatory approval, production and marketing of the Company's drug components, including, but not limited to the ability of the Company to procure additional future sources of financing, unexpected adverse side effects or inadequate therapeutic efficacy of the Company's drug compounds, including, but not limited to events that could slow or prevent products coming to market, the uncertainty of patent protection for the Company's intellectual property or trade secrets, including, but not limited to, the intellectual property relating to the Company's two proprietary technology platforms, and other risks detailed from time to time in the filings the Company makes with Securities and Exchange Commission including its annual reports on Form 20-F and its reports on Form 6-K. Such statements are based on management's current expectations, but actual results may differ materially due to various factions including those risks and uncertainties mentioned or referred to in this press release. Accordingly, you should not rely on those forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual future results.
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SOURCE Novogen Limited