Bionomics Limited : OPEN BRIEFING - CEO ON BNC105 OVARIAN CANCER TRIAL
Q. Why have you focused on ovarian cancer?
CEO & MD Deborah Rathjen
"There is a clear unmet medical need for more effective
systemic therapy. Despite modest
improvements in patient outcomes as a result of surgery or
platinum-based chemotherapy, the majority of ovarian cancer
patients relapse and die of their disease.
The impetus to focus on ovarian cancer as a clinical trial
setting for BNC105 came from the preclinical data. The data
showed firstly, a strong
synergy of BNC105 with a class of
cancer chemotherapy drugs called platins which are based on
platinum and secondly, that BNC105 was effective and in fact
very potent, in killing platin resistant as well as platin
sensitive ovarian cancer cells in culture. Platinum-based
drugs are used as part of the standard-of-care in the
treatment of ovarian cancer, however, resistance to
platinum-based therapy can develop quickly and both sets of
data point to the potential of BNC105 in this setting.
Ovarian cancer is the seventh leading cause of cancer-related
death among Australian women. It is often diagnosed at an
advanced stage after the cancer has spread beyond the ovary.
In 2008 in Australia 1,272 ovarian cancer cases were
diagnosed.
The number of ovarian cancer cases in Australia
increased by 47 percent between 1982 and 2006.
It is
anticipated that the number of new cases will continue to
increase, with an estimated 1,488 women expected to be
diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2015. In 2010 there were an
estimated 21,880 new cases and 13,850 deaths from ovarian
cancer in the US. It is estimated that approximately
US$2.2
billion is spent in the US each year on treating ovarian
cancer..........
Q. How relevant will the trials be for BNC105's potential
application to other types of cancer?
CEO & MD Deborah Rathjen
"Looking beyond ovarian cancer to the broader potential of
BNC105, the platins include cisplatin and carboplatin. They
are used in the treatment of a broad range of solid tumour
types including lung, prostate, breast, melanoma and
mesothelioma, hence the importance of combining BNC105 with
these drugs as we are doing in the ovarian cancer trial. ......."
