September 23, 2022
Worldwide, an estimated 300,000 people are diagnosed with a primary brain tumor each year, with very little hope of effective treatment.
An experimental drug being tested for advanced solid tumors, including the most aggressive brain cancer, glioblastoma, has passed the first phase with flying colours, raising hopes of an effective new treatment.
University of South Australia (UniSA) Professor Shudong Wang and Adelaide biotech company Aucentra Therapeutics are recruiting up to 50 glioblastoma patients for the second phase, testing the drug Auceliciclib.
The first phase, which began in June 2021, involved patients with glioblastoma, as well as cervical, colon, gastrointestinal, pancreatic and uterine cancers, ensuring that Auceliciclib was safe at different doses.
In the second stage, the effectiveness of the drug against solid tumors will be tested.
Advances in the treatment of glioblastoma have been announced on the eve of World Cancer Research Day, Saturday 24 September.
“The first phase usually takes up to two years if there are safety issues with a new drug, but we did not experience any issues with Auceliciclib, which is very encouraging,” says Professor Wang.
The second phase, in combination with the chemotherapy drug Temozolomide, will focus on patients with glioblastoma, whose life expectancy is very limited, with a survival time of only 12-18 months after diagnosis.
“Despite surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, glioblastoma is an incurable cancer. One reason is due to late diagnosis where the tumor has already spread in a way that makes surgical removal very difficult,” says Professor Wang.
Professor Shudong Wang
“Also, there are very few drugs in existence that can cross the blood-brain barrier. The brain does an excellent job of protecting its most vital organ from toxins and pathogens. The downside is that it keeps vital medication out.”
Auceliciclib has shown in preclinical models that it can cross the blood-brain barrier, making it an ideal drug candidate for brain cancer.,
Worldwide, an estimated 300,000 people were diagnosed with a primary brain tumor in 2020, with very little hope of effective treatment.
Auceliciclib has two key advantages over other drugs in development. It is more specific to the target, reaches the brain cancer cells more effectively and is less toxic.
If the drug is successful in the clinical trial, it will also be a major breakthrough for brain tumors metastasized from other cancers, such as breast and lung.
Professor Wang says progress is limited by funding, with the trials costing more than $15 million.
“Aucentra Therapeutics has played a critical role in raising the capital needed to conduct the clinical trials, but we need much more support.”
Clinical trials are currently underway in Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne. Depending on funding, the team hopes to expand the trial sites to every capital city in Australia.
A separate trial is underway for Auceliciclib as monotherapy for patients with a variety of late-stage cancers, including breast, lung, ovarian and colorectal.
For more information on clinical trial eligibility, visit
Notes for editors
Professor Shudong Wang is a world-renowned leader in kinase-targeted cancer drug therapies. In 2017 she received an NHMRC Research Excellence Award from the National Health and Medical Research Council for being the highest ranked development grant applicant in Australia.
Interview Contact: Prof Shudong Wang E: shudong.wang@unisa.edu.au Media Contact: Candy Gibson M: +61 434 605 142 E: candy.gibson@unisa.edu.au