Beroni Acquires Majority Interest in PENAO

Beroni Group has completed its majority acquisition of the Sydney-based anti-cancer drug development company, PENAO Pty Ltd. As a result of this acquisition, Beroni now owns 60% of PENAO Pty Ltd’s shares.

PENAO Pty Ltd was incorporated in 2019 and has support of the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia who becomes a 40% shareholder while Beroni retains the call option to increase its 60% shareholding. It has a highly experienced Board of Directors and Management, including its Chair Dr. Peter French who has held directorships in several successful biotechnology companies.

PENAO Pty Ltd is focused on the research, development and commercialization of the potential anti-cancer small molecule drug, PENAO. This next generation adenine nucleotide translocase (ANT) inhibitor was shown to be safe and well-tolerated in a 26-patient clinical trial conducted in Australia where encouraging efficacy data was observed. PENAO has been shown to accumulate in cells at a rate 85-fold faster than its predecessor gold standard GSAO, which results in a 44-fold increased anti-proliferative activity and a ~20-fold increase in anti-tumor efficacy in non-clinical studies. Its faster intracellular accumulation rate and slower extrusion rate could circumvent multidrug resistance, making it potentially a greatly improved anti-cancer agent. A larger Phase I/II clinical trial will be conducted in China and Australia to demonstrate PENAO’s efficacy in patients with advanced solid tumors as a stand-alone therapy and in combination with the established treatment rapamycin.

“I am delighted to partner with Beroni and advise on PENAO’s development as a very promising treatment for cancer patients who have not responded to standard therapy,” said Professor Phillip Hogg, co-creator of the drug.

“There is a significant and growing unmet medical need for novel, effective anti-cancer drugs. The number of new cancer cases worldwide in 2020 is estimated to have risen to 19.3 million and to reach 28.4 million in 2040. It is our aspiration that PENAO will become a new breakthrough therapy for treating cancer. We will make the most use of our multi-centered clinical network to accelerate the development and commercialization of PENAO,” said Jacky Zhang, Chair and CEO of Beroni.