Noxopharm Limited (ASX:NOX) Executive Chairman and Founder, Dr Graham Kelly, talks about progress with Veyonda, plans for a secondary listing in the US and key appointments.Rachael Jones: Hello. I'm Rachael Jones for the Finance News Network. Joining me from Noxopharm
(ASX:NOX) is executive chairman and founder, Dr Graham Kelly. Graham, welcome back to FNN.
Dr Graham Kelly: Hi Rachael.
Rachael Jones: Now, this month marks three years since Noxopharm
(ASX:NOX) listed on the ASX. What has happened in that time and what can you tell me about the growth of the company?
Dr Graham Kelly: Well, it's been an extraordinary three years. When we started three years ago with our drug Veyonda, we were confident that we had something that was going to be interesting and potentially transformative for cancer. And in those three years, we've completed one clinical study, we're almost completed a second one and about halfway through with the third one. So it's been a very busy time. These are all stage four patients. Very late stage, they've reached the end of their treatment journey, and they're now using Veyonda really as a final method of treatment. What we've seen is enough positive responses for us now to be convinced that we've got a drug that is going to be transformative.
Rachael Jones: Now, back in February you announced some board changes where you yourself moved into the Executive Chairman role and Dr Greg van Wyk moved into the CEO role as well as Chief Medical Officer. What does your role involve?
Dr Graham Kelly: As the company has grown over those three years, the role of CEO has become far more complex and detailed. And yet, the company needs another level of supervision and outreach. So I've moved into that higher role. So what I'm essentially doing now is things like potential dual listing on a US Securities Exchange, speaking to potential strategic partners. I guess I'm providing thought leadership for the group. But Greg is a very effective executive. He's been a senior medical director in a large pharmaceutical company. He knows now what it takes to take this company from where it is now to its commercial end point. So I was very happy to hand the baton over to someone with that experience.
Rachael Jones: Excellent. And recently Nox announced a new facility funding. What can you tell me about this?
Dr Graham Kelly: Drug development is a very hungry beast that needs to be fed constantly. And so this facility that we've just finalised, myself and the board believe was the best under the circumstances. We're looking for flexibility.
Rachael Jones: And what will the capital be used for?
Dr Graham Kelly: Primarily for this next stage of clinical trials. So we have two quite large studies to be started next year and then a third smaller study. And of the two large ones, one called DARRT-2, is going to be a primary study. So using Veyonda with external beam radiation in late stage prostate cancer remains our primary objective. And so we intend next year to start a phase II study. This will be a multinational study involving quite a large number of hospitals and a large number of patients. It will be called an adaptive study, which means that we have the capacity to move it immediately into a final phase III study.
Then there's another one called CEP-2, which is going to be the use of Veyonda with chemotherapy in patients with a rare form of cancer called Sarcoma. They're the two major ones. And then the third one will be using Veyonda in combination with an immune-oncology drug.
Rachael Jones: And to the last question now Graham, what can shareholders expect over the next year in the terms of news flow?
Dr Graham Kelly: We're anticipating quite a significant news flow, Rachael. Typically, when you engage in clinical studies, you enter long periods of cones of silence. But we deliberately plan out our trials so that there are interim reporting points, and that's primarily the news flow that we will be getting over the next 12 months.
Rachael Jones: Dr Graham Kelly, thanks so much for the update.
Dr Graham Kelly: Thank you, Rachael.
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