DARRT-2

Sometimes we miss the obvious ...

We were told in 2020 that DARRT-2 would be a 200-patient Phase 2 trial against end-stage prostate cancer, but the latest newsletter shows DARRT-2 as a Phase 1 trial against Prostate, Lung and Breast cancers. What gives?

A little research shows that one aim of DARRT-2 is to demonstrate that NOX66 can convert the ultra-rare abscopal response into a common occurrence. We already know that 27% of prostate-cancer patients in DARRT-1 achieved abscopal responses, so higher doses of NOX66, repeated monthly, should in my view significantly increase this percentage.

Treatment will seek to reduce the size of lesions that are NOT irradiated, but this means that you have to start with lesions that can be measured. Most prostate patients don't have measurable disease, which would slow down recruitment - hence the addition of Lung and Breast cancer patients.

A side benefit of the protocol change is that proof-of-concept could be established with less patients than originally planned, with consequent cost savings, while simultaneously increasing Noxopharm's attractiveness to potential suitors at about the same time that patents reach grant stage.