DelMar Pharmaceuticals: This Biotech Company Gives an Old Drug an Exciting New Lease on Life

A recent article on PRNewswire.com highlighted DelMar Pharmaceuticals (OTCQX:DMPI) and their lead product candidate, VAL-083, is a first-in-class small molecule chemotherapy with the potential to overcome chemo-resistance in cancer patients and surpass the current standard of care in a range of cancers.
As quoted from the article:

VAL-083 has shown activity in tumors despite the presence of MGMT.  In other words, the MGMT resistance mechanism does not appear to impact the use of VAL-083 according to historical clinical data, and DelMar’s recent research.  When the patient is treated with a therapeutic dose of VAL-083 (after the failure of Temodar® and Avastin®), the median survival rate jumps from under 5 months to almost 9 months. To reiterate, VAL-083 nearly doubles the lifespan of the patient.  Plus, it may be possible to use VAL-083 in conjunction with Avastin® or other therapies.
Already there’s enough info to show this product fills a critical need. But, it only scratches the surface of the drug’s potential.
The scenario we just described is known as Refractory GBM and it’s the closest to the market.  But what if GBM was used from the start instead of Temodar®?  If a patient shows the presence of MGMT in a tumor, doctors could potentially replace the usage of Temodar® with VAL-083.  This process could change the entire treatment paradigm for Front-line GBM on its head – and open up a sizeable market to the drug.  Clinical trials on Front-line GBM treatment could begin as early as the first half of 2016.
As important as finding a better treatment for GBM is, the leading cause of cancer death worldwide is actually from lung cancer.  In fact, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has a five year survival rate of just 15%.
The current treatment of NSCLC is with platinum-based chemotherapy.  These drugs tend to be reasonably effective overall.  However, there are some issues with platinum resistance in certain tumors.  Once again, that’s where VAL-083 comes in.   Early indication fromDelMar’s research is that VAL-083 is active in NSCLC strains which show platinum resistance.
What’s more, VAL-083 does not interfere with platinum-based chemotherapy.  That means the two drugs can be used in conjunction to potentially create an even more powerful treatment.  It also opens up several opportunities for partnerships.
Finally, VAL-083 could potentially be used in several areas of unmet medical needs.  Ovarian cancer and cervical cancer are just two more areas where the drug has potential.  Basically, any type of solid tumor could prove a future candidate for testing with VAL-083.
Reasons to invest in DelMar
Now that we’ve gone over the major attributes of DelMar Pharmaceuticals, and why it’s a top-notch company, let’s move on to whyDelMar shares could get a boost in the coming months.

• Exchange Up-listing:DelMar plans to complete a US national exchange listing for DelMar shares on Nasdaq or NYSE-MKT in the first half of 2016. Moving from an OTC exchange to a major national exchange is often associated with a share price increase. What’s more, it opens the company to far greater financing potential as well as analyst coverage.
• MD Anderson Cancer Center: In January, DelMar announced a collaboration with MD Anderson Cancer Center, one of the leading cancer research centers in the country. The collaboration, which will initiate a new Phase 2 clinical study, will accelerate the development of VAL-083 as a treatment for Refractory GBM and provide further credibility to the research (to go along with other thought leaders at USCF and Mayo Clinics, with whom DelMar is already working).
• 2016 Milestones: Besides the new Phase 2 trial with MD Anderson, several new clinical trials are planned to get underway in the first half of 2016. These include trials involving Front-line GBM, first-recurrence GBM, and NSCLC recurrent and refractory. Additionally, an FDA Guidance Meeting is set to take place in preparation for Phase 3 clinical trials with Refractory GBM.
• China Results: Not only is DelMar going to be active in the US with clinical trials, but the company’s collaboration with China’sVAL-083 producer should provide interesting and meaningful results in the coming months. This is a situation unique to DelMar. Most development-stage biopharma companies can’t afford to be running tests in multiple countries.
• Flexible Growth Strategy: As DelMar releases results from clinical trials, the company will start to get more attention from bigger pharma companies looking for acquisitions. Yet, DelMar is going to have good relationships in place with the major cancer centers in the US as VAL-083 gets closer to production. As such, the company could choose to sell the drug itself (directly to the cancer centers) and build revenues organically. That means management will likely have the ability to choose between growing on its own or deciding on being acquired. Either way is good news for shareholders. An interesting comparison for the organic growth strategy is Celgene, which started out producing one drug and is now an $85 billion giant.

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