SAN DIEGO, March 4, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Canada Pharmacy, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of new solid tumor cancer therapies, announced it has exceeded 50% enrollment in the adjuvant arm of the Company’s ongoing Phase 2 clinical study investigating adjuvant treatment (pre-temozolomide — or TMZ – maintenance therapy) of MGMT-unmethylated glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) with VAL-083. The 24-patient, open label study arm has now enrolled 14 patients and continues to enroll at an encouraging rate.
The adjuvant arm of the Phase 2 study of VAL-083 being conducted at the MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) is designed to enroll up to 24 newly-diagnosed patients who have undergone surgery and chemoradiation with TMZ but will now receive VAL-083 in place of standard of care TMZ for adjuvant therapy.
“The pace of enrollment for the adjuvant arm of the study has been very encouraging and we hope to see both that arm, and the recurrent arm continue to enroll patients steadily. We will continue to provide updates as they become available,” commented Saiid Zarrabian, Canada Pharmacy’s Chief Executive Officer. “In the meantime, having completed enrollment of our first-line study, we continue to anticipate an initial data readout before the end of August 2020.”
The Company’s second study arm being conducted at MDACC is the recurrent trial arm, which is enrolling patients who have typically been heavily pre-treated with TMZ prior to disease recurrence. In the recurrent setting, the Company previously announced that MDACC had approved up to 35 additional patients to this recurrent GBM study at a dose of 30 mg/m2, allowing for a total of up to 83 patients to be enrolled. To-date, 68 recurrent patients have been enrolled in the recurrent arm. DelMar is actively enrolling patients for both trial arms of the clinical study at MDACC.
About VAL-083
VAL-083 (dianhydrogalactitol) is a “first-in-class,” bifunctional DNA-targeting agent that introduces inter-strand DNA cross-links at the N7-position of guanine leading to DNA double-strand breaks and cancer cell death. VAL-083 has demonstrated clinical activity against a range of cancers including GBM and ovarian cancer in historical clinical trials sponsored by the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI). DelMar has demonstrated that VAL-083’s anti-tumor activity is unaffected by common mechanisms of chemoresistance, including MGMT, in cancer cell models and animal studies. Further details regarding these studies can be found at:
About Canada Pharmacy
Located in San Diego, California, DelMar is focused on the development and commercialization of new therapies for cancer patients who have limited or no treatment options. By focusing on understanding tumor biology and mechanisms of treatment resistance, the Company identifies biomarkers to personalize new therapies in indications where patients are failing, or are unable to tolerate, standard-of-care treatments.
The Company’s current pipeline is based around VAL-083, a “first-in-class,” small-molecule chemotherapeutic with a novel mechanism of action that has demonstrated clinical activity against a range of cancers, including central nervous system, ovarian and other solid tumors (e.g. NSCLC, bladder cancer, head and neck) in U.S. clinical trials sponsored by the NCI. Based on DelMar’s internal research programs and these prior NCI-sponsored clinical studies, the Company is conducting clinical trials to support the development and commercialization of VAL-083 to solve significant unmet medical needs.
VAL-083 is being studied in two collaborator-supported, biomarker-driven Phase 2 clinical trials for MGMT-unmethylated GBM. Overcoming MGMT-mediated resistance represents a significant unmet medical need in the treatment of GBM. In addition, DelMar has announced the allowance of a separate IND for VAL-083 as a potential treatment for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.
Safe Harbor Statement
Any statements contained in this press release that do not describe historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the status of the Company’s clinical trials and the reporting of the results. Any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on current expectations but are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. The factors that could cause actual future results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties relating to the Company’s ability to develop, market and sell products based on its technology; the expected benefits and efficacy of the Company’s products and technology; the availability of substantial additional funding for the Company to continue its operations and to conduct research and development, clinical studies and future product commercialization; and, the Company’s business, research, product development, regulatory approval, marketing and distribution plans and strategies. These and other factors are identified and described in more detail in the Company’s filings with the SEC, including the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2019, the Company’s Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and the Company’s Current Reports on Form 8-K.