A drug shown to be highly effective against adult and pediatric brain cancers has the same high potency against melanoma cells, biotech drug developer Novogen reports.

The company’s lead drug candidate TRXE-009 in preclinical studies demonstrated “exceptionally high killing activity” against melanoma cells, with the activity unaffected by tumors’ BRAF gene status. The Australian company claims the evidence proves for the first time an hypothesized link between the two cancers in terms of response to treatment.

Novagen Group includes the-US based CanTx, a joint venture with Yale University targeting novel stem cell cancer therapeutics.