DelMar, Accurexa ink deal for chemotherapy combo

DelMar Pharmaceuticals and Accurexa  said today that they inked a deal to collaborate on a combination chemotherapy for local treatment of brain cancer.

The agreement calls for DelMar to supply the drug dianhydrogalactitol (VAL-083) as part of a combination with another chemotherapeutic, either temozolomide or carmustine, for local delivery to the tumor via Accurexa’s ACX-31 implantable polymer wafer. DelMar said its drug proved successful in more than 40 clinical trials sponsored by the U.S. National Cancer Institute, winning orphan drug designation as a treatment for gliomas, medulloblastoma and ovarian cancer in April.

The deal gives DelMar the exclusive option to license, acquire and commercialize product candidates and intellectual property resulting from the research involving VAL-083 and ACX-31. The companies will share the research costs.

“Working together with Accurexa will allow DelMar to explore a promising new product opportunity that is complementary to our existing portfolio of systemic drug development programs established around VAL-083, without significant cash outlay or impact on our near-term cash burn rate,” DelMar chairman & CEO Jeffrey Bacha said in prepared remarks. “This research collaboration will take advantage of our knowledge regarding the unique cytotoxic mechanism of VAL-083 to deliver combination chemotherapy directly to patients’ cancer. Combining drugs with distinct mechanisms for local delivery provides an opportunity to overcome chemoresistance while minimizing potential systemic toxicity.”

“We are very pleased to collaborate with DelMar’s experienced team allowing us to leverage their strong development capabilities. They have recently completed a Phase I/II clinical trial of VAL-083 in brain cancer patients and had a successful end-of-Phase II meeting with the FDA while we recently had a positive pre-IND meeting with the FDA for our ACX-31 wafer program,” added Accurexa president & CEO Dr. George Yu. “Looking forward to the future development pathway, we believe that the local delivery of VAL-083 as a component of our ACX-31 wafer could potentially provide a new and exciting treatment option for brain cancer patients.”

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