Beroni Group, an Australia-based biopharmaceutical enterprise, said that PENAO Pty Ltd, its majority-owned, Sydney-based anti-cancer drug development company, has signed a drug manufacture contract with Aurigene Pharmaceutical Services, India, a subsidiary of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories.
 
This next-generation adenine nucleotide translocase (ANT) inhibitor, PENAO, was shown to be safe and well-tolerated in a phase I clinical trial conducted in Australia where encouraging efficacy data was observed. In a second clinical trial to commence H1 2022, PENAO is planned to be administered as twice-weekly injections to patients with advanced solid tumors. It is going to be a dose-finding study that also investigates anti-tumor effects using morphological assessments including radiological responses, molecular imaging surrogates, and anti-proliferative effects.
 
“I am pleased that we are making significant progress in the development of the anti-cancer drug PENAO,” said Jacky Zhang, CEO, Beroni Group. “PENAO is a novel therapy targeting tumor cell mitochondria and could potentially have application in a wide range of cancers, including colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, liver cancer, etc. It is a potential treatment for cancers that are unresponsive to standard treatment, or for which no standard treatment exists.”