NOXXON Appoints Leading Brain Cancer Experts to Scientific Advisory Board

BERLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:

NOXXON Pharma N.V. (Euronext Growth Paris: ALNOX) (Paris:ALNOX), a biotechnology company focused on improving cancer treatments by targeting the tumor microenvironment (TME), announced today the appointment of two leading brain cancer experts to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). Prof. Monika Hegi and Dr. Michael Lim and will complement the current SAB and provide strategic and scientific counsel to NOXXON’s lead NOX-A12 program in brain cancer (glioblastoma).

"NOXXON's commitment to appointing an SAB comprised of top clinicians from the US and Europe who have cutting-edge scientific knowledge and a track record of successfully developing new drugs reflects the company's robust clinical development strategy. We are looking forward to working with Prof. Hegi and Dr. Lim very much, and their accomplished backgrounds and extensive experience will add further value to the work the SAB performs," said Dr. José Saro, Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of NOXXON.

"We are very pleased and honored to welcome Prof. Hegi and Dr. Lim to our Scientific Advisory Board at what is a crucial time for NOXXON as we transition from proof of concept to pivotal trial in brain cancer. Having reported strong top-line results from our GLORIA Phase 1/2 clinical trial, we continue exploring additional therapeutic combinations for patients with brain tumors as we are planning further clinical development of NOX-A12 with an upcoming pivotal glioblastoma study. The appointment of these world-renowned experts in the field of brain cancer adds deep scientific knowledge and clinical insights to NOXXON's R&D capacity and underlines the important potential of NOX-A12 in this very difficult to treat indication," said Aram Mangasarian, CEO of NOXXON.

The members of NOXXON’s SAB for brain cancer are listed below. Biographies for each member will also be available on the NOXXON website.

Prof. Monika E. Hegi
Head of the Laboratory of Brain Tumor Biology and Genetics, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University Hospital Lausanne, Switzerland

Prof. Hegi’s research aims at identifying new molecular targets and predictive factors for response to therapy and outcome in brain tumor patients. She played a leading role in the groundbreaking translational clinical research, which resulted in the implementation of MGMT methylation status as the first predictive biomarker for the brain cancer glioblastoma. Prof. Hegi works at the interphase of clinical and basic cancer research, analyzing multidimensional molecular profiles of glioma from patients treated in clinical trials. She collaborates with local and international cooperative groups, in particular the Brain Tumor Group at the EORTC, the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer.

Michael Lim, MD
Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford University, California, USA

Dr. Michael Lim is a world leader in immunotherapy for brain tumors. Dr. Lim’s a board-certified neurosurgeon specializing in brain tumors and trigeminal neuralgia, and his clinical interests include the treatment of benign and malignant brain tumors. His research interests focus on harnessing the immune system to fight cancer. His laboratory focuses on understanding mechanisms of immune evasion by cancer cells. He has successfully translated his findings from the laboratory to the clinics and has conducted and led several large national immunotherapy clinical trials for brain tumors. Dr. Lim has published over 200 articles that appeared in Science Translational Medicine, Clinical Cancer Research, Lancet Oncology, and Nature Immunology, among other prominent scientific publications.

About NOXXON

NOXXON’s oncology-focused pipeline acts on the tumor microenvironment (TME) and the cancer immunity cycle by breaking the tumor protection barrier and blocking tumor repair. By neutralizing chemokines in the TME, NOXXON’s approach works in combination with other forms of treatment to weaken tumor defenses against the immune system and enable greater therapeutic impact. NOXXON’s lead program NOX-A12 has delivered final top-line data from a Keytruda^® combination trial in metastatic colorectal and pancreatic cancer patients published at the ESMO conference in September 2020 and in July 2021 the company announced its Phase 2 study, OPTIMUS, to further evaluate safety and efficacy of NOX-A12 in combination with Merck’s Keytruda^® and two different chemotherapy regimens as second-line therapy in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. NOXXON is also studying NOX-A12 in brain cancer in combination with radiotherapy which has been granted orphan drug status in the US and EU for the treatment of certain brain cancers. GLORIA, a trial of NOX-A12 in combination with radiotherapy in newly diagnosed brain cancer patients who will not benefit clinically from standard chemotherapy has delivered top-line data from all three dose-escalation cohorts showing consistent tumor reductions and objective tumor responses. Additionally, GLORIA has been expanded to assess the benefit of NOX-A12 with other treatment combinations, radiotherapy + bevacizumab and radiotherapy + pembrolizumab. The company’s second clinical-stage asset NOX-E36 is a Phase 2 TME asset targeting the innate immune system. NOXXON plans to test NOX‑E36 in patients with solid tumors. Further information can be found at: www.noxxon.com.

Keytruda^® is a registered trademark of Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.

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About the GLORIA Study

GLORIA (NCT04121455) is NOXXON’s dose-escalation, phase 1/2 study of NOX-A12 in combination with irradiation in first-line partially resected or unresected glioblastoma (brain cancer) patients with unmethylated MGMT promoter (resistant to standard chemotherapy). GLORIA further evaluates safety and efficacy of NOX-A12 three additional arms combining NOX-A12 with: A. radiotherapy in patients with complete tumor resection; B. radiotherapy and bevacizumab in patients with incomplete tumor resection; and C. radiotherapy and pembrolizumab in patients with incomplete tumor resection.

About the OPTIMUS Study

OPTIMUS (NCT04901741) is NOXXON’s open-label two-arm phase 2 study of NOX-A12 combined with pembrolizumab and nanoliposomal irinotecan/5-FU/leucovorin or gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel in microsatellite-stable metastatic pancreatic cancer patients.

Disclaimer

Translations of any press release into languages other than English are intended solely as a convenience to the non-English-reading audience. The company has attempted to provide an accurate translation of the original text in English, but due to the nuances in translating into another language, slight differences may exist. Certain statements in this communication contain formulations or terms referring to the future or future developments, as well as negations of such formulations or terms, or similar terminology. These are described as forward-looking statements. In addition, all information in this communication regarding planned or future results of business segments, financial indicators, developments of the financial situation or other financial or statistical data contains such forward-looking statements. The company cautions prospective investors not to rely on such forward-looking statements as certain prognoses of actual future events and developments. The company is neither responsible nor liable for updating such information, which only represents the state of affairs on the day of publication.

For more information, please contact:
NOXXON Pharma N.V.
Aram Mangasarian, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer
Tel. +49 (0) 30 726247 0
amangasarian@noxxon.com

Investor and Media Relations:
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