CHK1 Approved for Clinical Trials

RNS Number : 2053U

Sareum Holdings PLC

05 April 2016

 

SAREUM HOLDINGS PLC

("Sareum" or "the Company")

CHK1 inhibitor CCT245737 Approved for Clinical Trials in Cancer Patients

Sareum Holdings plc (AIM:SAR), the specialist cancer drug discovery and development company, is pleased to announce that the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has approved the Clinical Trial Applications (CTAs) for CHK1 inhibitor drug candidate CCT245737.

Subject to final NHS approval, clinical trials are expected to begin in Q2 2016. Two Phase I clinical trials in cancer patients are planned, in collaboration with co-development partners, the CRT Pioneer Fund. One trial will use CCT245737 in combination with standard-of-care chemotherapy and will ultimately target lung and pancreatic cancer patients. The other trial will use CCT245737 as a single anti-cancer agent and will initially target various cancers.

As noted in its announcement of 1 February 2016, Sareum satisfied a financial commitment of £797,500 to the funding of these trials in December 2015, and the submission of the Clinical Trial Applications triggered the receipt of a £200,000 success milestone payment from Cancer Research Technology Ltd to Sareum.

Sareum's CEO, Dr Tim Mitchell, commented: "This approval for CCT245737 is another significant milestone along its path to being the first from our development pipeline to enter clinical trials."

For further information:

Sareum Holdings plc
Tim Mitchell	01223 497 700
WH Ireland Limited (Nominated Adviser and Co-Broker)
Chris Fielding / Nick Prowting	020 7220 1666
Hybridan LLP (Co-Broker)
Claire Noyce / William Lynne	020 3764 2341/2342
The Communications Portfolio (Media enquiries)
Ariane Comstive [e-mail]	07785 922 354

Notes for editors:

Sareum is a drug discovery and development company delivering targeted small molecule therapeutics, focusing on cancer and autoimmune disease, for licensing to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies at the preclinical or early clinical trials stage.

Sareum operates an outsourced research model, working with collaborators (SRI International, the CRT Pioneer Fund and Hebei Medical University Biomedical Engineering Center) and a world-wide network of research providers. Its research pipeline includes a programme awaiting final approval to start clinical trials and another undergoing pre-clinical IND-enabling studies.

SKIL® (Sareum Kinase Inhibitor Library) is Sareum's drug discovery technology platform that has so far produced the Company's Aurora+FLT3, Aurora+ALK, VEGFR-3, FLT3 & TYK2 kinase cancer and autoimmune disease research programmes. SKIL® can also generate drug research programmes against other kinase targets.

Sareum Holdings plc is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, trading under the symbol SAR. For further information, please visit www.sareum.co.uk

Checkpoint Kinase 1 (CHK1) and CCT245737: Most chemotherapies work by damaging the DNA of rapidly dividing cells. In response, cancer cells can activate an enzyme, known as CHK1, which delays cell division and gives cancer cells an opportunity to repair their damaged DNA. This enables the cancer cells to survive the DNA damage and become resistant to the cell-killing effects of chemotherapeutic agents.

Studies have shown that oral dosing of CCT245737, the CHK1 clinical development candidate being funded by the Sareum / CRT Pioneer Fund co-development partnership, and other lead series compounds can boost the activity of relevant chemotherapies in in vivo models of lung, pancreatic and colon cancers. Furthermore, strong efficacy has been demonstrated by these inhibitors when dosed as a single anti-cancer agent in several in vivo models, including those of AML (Acute Myeloid Leukaemia) lymphoma and paediatric neuroblastoma.

A detailed description of CCT245737 was published in the high-impact journal, Oncotarget, in July 2015.

 

END

 

 

MSCAKPDNCBKKPQK