DelMar Pharmaceuticals and Accurexa to Collaborate in the Development of a Novel Combination Chemotherapy

VANCOUVER, British Columbia and WALNUT CREEK, Calif., Sept. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — DelMar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:DMPI), a company focused on developing and commercializing proven cancer therapies in new orphan drug indications, and Accurexa Inc. (OTCQB: ACXA) (“Accurexa”), a company focused on the development of novel neurological therapies to be directly delivered into the brain, announced today a collaboration to develop a novel formulation for the local delivery of combination chemotherapy for the treatment of brain cancer and other solid tumors.
 
DelMar will host a teleconference for shareholders and investors on Wednesday,September 7, 2016 at 5PM EDT. Interested parties can access the call by dialing toll free 1-800-862-9098 or via the internet at: https://engage.vevent.com/rt/delmar_ao~73915172
Mr. Bacha and DelMar management will discuss the Accurexa collaboration and outline the Company’s plans for the remainder of 2016, including steps to advance VAL-083 into a pivotal Phase III and two additional Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of refractory glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer.
Accurexa’s ACX-31 program has been developed in collaboration with Prof. Henry Brem who built one of the largest brain tumor research and treatment centers in the world at Johns Hopkins University and Prof. Robert Langer, who is the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT and the most cited engineer in history.  Professor Avi Domb at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem will lead the formulation development efforts for the collaboration.  Prof. Brem, Prof. Langer and Prof. Domb are pioneers in the development of local drug delivery treatments, and invented and developed Gliadel^® (carmustine implant) which is a FDA approved, local chemotherapy for the treatment of GBM.  Drs. Brem and Langer will serve as advisors for the collaboration.
“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,” said Jeffrey Bacha, Chairman and CEO of DelMar Pharmaceuticals.  “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.  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,” said George Yu, MD, Accurexa’s President & CEO.
DelMar and Accurexa believe that combining VAL-083 with temozolomide and/or BCNU within Accurexa’s proprietary drug delivery system may provide treatment advantages while limiting systemic toxicity.
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