DelMar Pharmaceuticals to Collaborate with MD Anderson Cancer Center on Development of DelMar's VAL-083 in Brain Cancer

DelMar Pharmaceuticals (OTCQX:DMPI) announced that it has entered into a collaboration with the University of TexasMD Anderson Cancer Center to accelerate the clinical development of DelMar’s lead anti-cancer candidate, VAL-083, for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common and deadly form of brain cancer.
As quoted in the press release:

As part of the collaboration, MD Anderson will initiate a new Phase II clinical study with VAL-083 in patients with GBM at first recurrence/progression, prior to Avastin™ (bevacizumab) exposure.  Patients eligible for the study will have recurrent GBM characterized by a high expression of MGMT, the DNA repair enzyme implicated in drug-resistance and poor patient outcomes following current front-line chemotherapy.  MGMT promoter methylation status will be used as a validated biomarker for enrollment and tumors must exhibit an unmethylated MGMT promoter for patients to be eligible for the trial.
VAL-083 is a first-in-class small molecule chemotherapy that readily crosses the blood brain barrier.  DelMar’s research has demonstrated that VAL-083’s anti-cancer mechanism is active independent of tumor MGMT status.  Approximately 2/3 of GBM patients have tumors with an unmethylated MGMT promoter, which is correlated with resistance to currently available chemotherapy and poor patient outcomes.
DelMar also plans to continue ongoing pre-clinical research related to VAL-083’s unique mechanism of action with researchers at MD Anderson.  DelMar has recently presented data stemming from this research at scientific meetings that suggest that VAL-083 may offer new treatment options for GBM, non-small cell lung cancer, ovarian cancer and pediatric medulloblastoma.

DelMar Pharmaceuticals chairman and CEO, Jeffrey Bacha, stated:

The progress we continue to make with our research shows that VAL-083 may offer advantages over currently available chemotherapies in a number of tumor types. This collaboration will allow us to leverage world-class clinical and research expertise and a large patient population from MD Anderson as we extend and accelerate our clinical focus to include GBM patients following first recurrence of their disease. We believe that VAL-083’s unique cytotoxic mechanism offers promise for GBM patients across the continuum of care as a potential superior alternative to currently available cytotoxic chemotherapies, especially for patients whose tumors exhibit a high-expression of MGMT. We look forward to working with the world-class scientists and clinicians at MD Anderson to accelerate our research bringing us closer to our vision to transform the treatment of patients whose cancers fail or are unlikely to respond to currently available treatments.

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