PharmAust successfully reformulates cancer drug

April 3, 2019 – ASX-listed biotech PharmAust, has successfully managed to reformulate its potentially breakthrough cancer drug Monepantel after feedback from previous trials that the taste was unpalatable.

The reformulation has now cleared the way for new canine clinical trials, a key milestone along the company’s drug development journey that is looking increasingly exciting.

In a recent market update, the Perth-based company said it has successfully revamped Monepantel’s formulation to improve the drugs’s taste and meeting the company’s dosage requirements.

The overhauled formulation takes the form of a dry tablet composed of “micromized” monepantel , which will be further optimized and refined during canine clinical trials.

If the canine trial, slated for Q4/2018 meets expectations, the company then plans to undertake a human clinical trial.

PharmaAust Executive Chairman Dr. Roger Aston said: “We are pleased the BRI collaboration has identified a new tablet-based formulation that clears the path for us to re-initiate clinical trials in late 2018. These efforts will focus initially in dogs before moving into human clinical trials.”

PharmaAust hit the major company milestone after partnering with Canadian-based BRI Biopharmaceutical Research, who has assisted it to successfully identify the reformulation approach. The collaboration, initiated last year, revealed micronization of Monepantel, a highly technical milling technique, as the best way to meet PharmAust’s requirements for dosing, taste-masking and oral bioavailability.