Eastland’s under the tongue, Bionomics disrupts further, Novogen adds on and Mesoblast’s arthritic sheep.

Eastland’s under the tongue, Bionomics disrupts further, Novogen adds on and Mesoblast’s arthritic sheep.

WA-based Eastland Medical Systems says it will become profitable this year after releasing early results of its sublingual malaria treatment ArTiMist proved positive.

Eastland has completed Phase 1 single-dose trials in Malaysia and Phase 1 multi-dose trials in South Africa of the under-the-tongue spray delivery.

Both trials showed the formulation was well-tolerated, the company said. It hopes to move into Phase III trials later this year.

SA's Bionomics presented data at the American Association of Cancer Research annual meeting this week that showed its lead anti-cancer compound, the vascular disrupting agent BNC105, has a dual mode of action.

Bionomics said the compound both disrupted blood vessels and inhibited tumour growth in animal models of human lung and brain cancers.

It is also being studied for breast, colon and prostate tumours. The data also showed that low doses of BNC105 in combination with the drug Avastin (bevacizumab) resulted in an enhanced anti-cancer effect on cancer blood vessels and tumours, the company said.

BNC105 is currently in clinical trial in patients with advanced cancer at three Melbourne cancer centres: the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, the Western Hospital and the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

Also at the AACR annual meeting, Sydney's Novogen announced a new compound in development, NV-128, with which it is targeting ovarian cancer.

NV-128 is an analogue of the company's phenoxodiol, which is in a Phase III multi-centre trial for late stage ovarian cancer, and triphendiol, which has FDA orphan drug status for pancreatic and bile duct cancers and late stage melanoma and enters Phase II late this year.

These drugs have been licensed to Marshall Edwards, a Novogen subsidiary that is listed on the Nasdaq index and was established to commercialise Novogen's multiple signal transduction regulators.

The company says NV-128 induces caspase-independent DNA degradation and cancer cell death.

Melbourne's Mesoblast has also been busy recently, announcing good long-term results in its osteoarthritis preclinical trials.

The mesenchymal stem cell specialist said a single injection of its allogeneic product into the arthritic knees of sheep provided sustained protection against cartilage destruction and degeneration for up to nine months.

"On the basis of these results, Mesoblast will proceed to commence its Phase II clinical trial program for cartilage protection in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee," the company said in a statement.

A new Excellence in Biotechnology Investment 2008 conference is being held next Monday and Tuesday at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney.

The event involves a gala awards dinner, with categories such as broker of the year, best CEO, transaction of the year and debut company of the year.

There's also a 'Legends' award, with contenders including Resmed's Dr Peter Farrell, CSL's Dr Brian McNamee, Cochlear's Dr Chris Roberts and everyone's Professor Ian Frazer.