News and Announcements
Novogen Ltd (ASX: NRT) to License Preclinical Assets to Heaton-Brown Life Sciences
- Published November 15, 2017 12:00AM UTC
- Publisher Wholesale Investor
- Categories Company Updates
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Novogen Ltd is to license and allocate particular preclinical assets to the Heaton-Brown Life Sciences.
- 10% of the equity in HBLS will go to Novogen.
- HBLS will assume the costs related to the ‘ad-het’ program.
- Novogen will retain all the rights correlated with the Cantrixil program.
Novogen Ltd (ASX: NRT), the oncology company developing anti-cancer treatments, has obtained the privilege to license and allocate particular preclinical assets to the Heaton-Brown Life Sciences. This was confirmed on 13 November 2017. Its primary focus at the moment is to acquire, develop and partner the clinical stage assets. This agreement with HBLS enables the earlier-stage first-class assets to proceed with their development free of charge to Novogen, and increase their chances of offering their patients amazing benefits as well as yielding economic value.
Heaton-Brown Life Sciences was formed by Dr David Brown and Dr Andrew Heaton who both worked for Novogen. It is a start-up enterprise that is privately-held. Following the agreement made, 10% of the equity from HBLS will go to Novogen. Also, the company will acquire royalty and milestone payments associated with the successful development of the programs. HBLS will assume the costs related to the ‘ad-het’ program while Novogen retains all the rights correlated with the Cantrixil program. However, both companies will share the maintenance costs of the ‘super-benzopyran’ patents.
Dr Heaton and Dr Brown jointly said, “Our intimate knowledge of these promising programs makes us well-placed to develop them in an innovative way. We have a successful track record, both with the underlying technology, and with founding a successful start-up, and we look forward to progressing this work in a new vehicle. The agreement between Novogen and Heaton-Brown Life Sciences represents a win-win arrangement for both companies.”
Dr James Garner, Novogen CEO, stated, “David and Andrew are exceptional pharmaceutical executives, who are highly motivated to succeed in this, their latest venture. While Novogen focuses its efforts on clinical stage programs, such as GDC-0084 and Cantrixil, it is excellent that we can entrust some of our earlier stage assets to the people best placed to take them forward – their original inventors. We wish the new company every success, and look forward to following their progress with keen interest, as both a supportive partner and a substantial shareholder.”
About Novogen Ltd (ASX: NRT)
Novogen Limited (ASX: NRT, NASDAQ: NVGN) is developing cancer treatments for areas which there is a high unmet medical need. Our lead program, GDC-0084, a drug to treat glioblastoma multiforme, the most aggressive brain cancer, has completed phase 1 human trials with strong safety and early efficacy signals. It is currently being prepared for phase 2 human trials.