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NeOnc – A New Company And New Approach To Brain Cancer
Publication Date: August 6, 2024
Published By: Breaking Cancer News
Article Link: https://breakingcancernews.com/2024/08/06/neonc-a-new-company-and-new-approach-to-brain-cancer/
When you’re a journalist and you learn you have cancer, one would think that you would use whatever research talents you possess to learn as much as you can about the disease. But at the beginning of my first go-round with cancer, I just wanted the doctor to do his thing and save my life.
My oncologist at the time said the best treatment for this disease (non-Hodgkin’s follicular lymphoma) was classic CHOP chemotherapy. I trusted his judgment.
When the cancer relapsed two years later, my oncologist said I should do the chemo again. I said no. Instead, I chose a new immunotherapy. I took that road instead. It gave me 20 years of remission.
Returning to my life as a Newsweek journalist, I kept covering wars and politics, but I also decided to be an advocate for my fellow cancer patients. I was especially interested in writing about new treatments and helping folks make the right decisions.
And I became especially interested in brain cancer, because it was and is a type of cancer for which there were and are very few treatments, and so many of our troops were coming home with this horrible cancer.
Thankfully, we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel for those who have glioblastoma and other brain cancers.
There are new treatments and trials going on nationwide and worldwide, including a very promising trial nationwide, headquartered at USC.
NeOnc Technologies has begun a phase 2 trial of NEO100-02 for patients afflicted with meningioma, marking the second concurrent phase 2 Study of its leading CNS cancer drug candidate.
NeOnc’s second concurrent Phase 2 clinical study seeks further safety and preliminary evidence of the biological effects of its lead drug candidate, NEO100, on certain cancers of the brain and central nervous system.
The trial highlights the ability of the NEO™ technology platform to produce novel drugs and delivery methods designed to overcome the persistent challenges in delivering chemotherapeutics through the blood-brain barrier.
NeOnc Technologies Holdings, Inc., a clinical-stage medical biotechnology company, has begun patient enrollment for the Phase 2 clinical trial of NEO100-02™, the company’s first of two drug candidates proceeding through four concurrent clinical trials for various indications and patient populations.
The Phase 2 study of NEO100-02 seeks further safety and preliminary evidence of the biological effects of the novel drug on patients afflicted with residual, progressive, or recurrent high-grade meningioma.
Meningioma is the most common type of benign tumor that forms in the brain. They grow from the membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord, with such growth potentially pressing on the nearby brain, nerves, and blood vessels.
Like any tumor, it may become atypical or malignant. Meningiomas may also develop in areas of the brain that are difficult to operate upon, such as at the base of the skull.
Approximately 97 out of every 100,000 people will be diagnosed with meningioma sometime during their lifetime, according to the Cleveland Clinic, with this resulting in more than 170,000 people diagnosed with meningioma annually in the United States.
“Addressing the unique challenges posed by skull-base meningiomas, this trial is tailored to a population with limited alternative treatment options,” said NeOnc CEO, Thomas Chen, MD, Ph.D. “The difficulty in accessing these tumors frequently results in significant neurological deficits post-surgery, and traditional radiation therapy often proves ineffective.”
NeOnc novel intranasal delivery method (administered through the nose) for NEO100-02 offers an easier alternative for patients compared to traditional approaches, such as pills, injections, and radiation.
Radiation treatment and chemotherapy for high-grade gliomas are complex, time-consuming, and often result in poor prognoses.
“Such factors highlight the crucial need for developing effective therapies that are less invasive and more tolerable, particularly for the more vulnerable elderly and pediatric populations,” said Chen.
NeOnc’s intranasal delivery method is designed to allow drugs to bypass the challenging blood-brain barrier and enter the brain through the olfactory or trigeminal nerves. Intranasal drug delivery is non-invasive and can be easily administered by or for the patient.
This can potentially reduce treatment costs and improve treatment efficacy.
Intranasal delivery can also potentially enable rapid onset of action and avoidance of first-pass metabolism efficacy decrease. NEO100 intranasal delivery is anticipated to provide oncology physicians and CNS chemotherapeutic manufacturers with the vehicle they have long sought to impact the efficacy of their treatment protocols.
The new clinical trial represents NeOnc’s second Phase 2 clinical trial in addition to two Phase 1 trials. The trials are for various indications and potential patient groups, and are proceeding simultaneously.
NeOnc’s other ongoing Phase 2a clinical trial for NEO100-01 is titled, ‘An Open-Label, Phase 1/2a Dose Escalation Study of Safety and Efficacy of NEO100 in Recurrent Grade IV Glioma.’
The study was recently expanded from Grade IV Astrocytoma with IDH1 mutation to include the more prevalent but equally lethal Grade III variant.
NeOnc’s executive chairman, Amir Heshmatpour, said in a press statement: “We believe this initiation of our Phase 2 meningioma clinical trial for NEO100-02, along with our lead Phase 2 clinical trials for NEO100-01, also currently underway, strengthens the value of our proprietary drug development platform.
“The various indications and patient groups we can address highlight the fact that we enjoy multiple ‘shots on goal’ as we pursue commercialization, which we believe also significantly increases our shareholder value.”
NEO100 is a proprietary, highly purified formulation of Perillyl Alcohol (POH), which is found in the essential oils of certain plants, such as citrus.
The biotechnology advancements generated by NeOnc’s NEO™ drug development platform is the result of more than a decade of research at the University of Southern California (USC) by Dr. Chen and his medical and scientific teams.
NeOnc Technologies is a privately held clinical-stage life sciences company focused on the development and commercialization of central nervous system therapeutics that are designed to address the persistent challenges in overcoming the blood-brain barrier.
The company’s NEO drug development platform has produced a portfolio of novel drug candidates and delivery methods with patent protections extending to 2038.
These proprietary chemotherapy agents have demonstrated positive effects in laboratory tests on various types of cancers and in clinical trials treating malignant gliomas.
NeOnc’s NEO100™ and NEO212™ therapeutics are in Phase I and II human clinical trials, and are advancing under FDA Fast-Track and Investigational New Drug (IND) status.
The company has exclusively licensed an extensive worldwide patent portfolio from the University of Southern California, consisting of issued patents and pending applications related to NEO100, NEO212, and other products from the NeOnc patent family for multiple uses, including oncological and neurological conditions.