Bionomics delivers on milestones for cancer, anxiety and multiple sclerosis programs

Australian drug discovery company Bionomics Limited today updated shareholders at its Annual General Meeting on the recent progress of its anti-cancer drug BNC105 and drug discovery programs in anxiety and Multiple Sclerosis.

"It is a pleasure to be able to report that we are meeting milestones in our drug discovery programs. We are preparing our lead drug, BNC105, for clinical trials and the new preclinical data is highly encouraging. In addition, we have now identified potential frontrunners for our anxiety and multiple sclerosis programs and filed three new patents," said Dr Deborah Rathjen, CEO of Bionomics.

Bionomics announced new data indicating that its lead anti-cancer compound, BNC105, acts in synergy with the blockbuster anti-cancer therapeutic, Avastin®, in shutting down the blood flow to solid tumours. Avastin is Genentech's anti-cancer therapeutic antibody which has generated in excess of US$ 2 billion in sales since its launch in 2004.

BNC105 is a new type of drug called a Vascular Disruption Agent (VDA) that acts by rapidly shutting down the blood supply to a tumour. It thereby "starves" the tumour of the oxygen and nutrients it needs to survive.

"This new data expands the potential clinical applications of BNC105 and may present new commercial opportunities for Bionomics," said Dr Rathjen. "Bionomics has committed to progress BNC105 into clinical trials following FDA approval."

VDA's such as BNC105 have significant clinical potential in the treatment of cancer, as they may potentially be applied across a very wide variety of cancer types, including colon, lung and breast cancers. The market potential for VDAs has been estimated at approximately US$5 billion annually (ASInsights, 2003).

Bionomics also announced that BNC105 demonstrated tumour shrinkage in preclinical models of breast cancer and that this effect was sustained after BNC105 treatment.

Dr Gabriel Kremmidiotis, Bionomics' VP Cancer Research, said, "We are very encouraged by the new data and are keen to pursue further this unique approach of combining BNC105 and Avastin® to treat cancer. The data is a clear validation of BNC105 as a promising therapeutic agent."