Clinical Trials CHK1 Inhibitor CCT245737 to Open

RNS Number : 0045Z

Sareum Holdings PLC

23 May 2016

 

(AIM: SAR)

23 May 2016

SAREUM HOLDINGS PLC

("Sareum" or "the Company")

Clinical Trials of CHK1 Inhibitor CCT245737 to Open at the Royal Marsden Hospital

Sareum Holdings plc (AIM:SAR), the specialist cancer drug discovery and development company, is pleased to announce that the Phase I clinical trials of CHK1 inhibitor drug candidate CCT245737 are anticipated to open at the Royal Marsden Hospital, Sutton on 31 May 2016.

Two Phase I clinical trials in cancer patients are being conducted, 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 announcements of 1 February 2016 and 5 April 2016, Sareum satisfied a financial commitment of £797,500 to the funding of these trials in December 2015. The submission of the Clinical Trial Applications in February 2016 triggered the receipt by Sareum of a £200,000 success milestone payment.

Further details of these clinical trials will be posted on the UK Clinical Trials Gateway at https://www.ukctg.nihr.ac.uk/trials/trial-details/trial-details?trialId=35145 (chemotherapy combination) and https://www.ukctg.nihr.ac.uk/trials/trial-details/trial-details?trialId=35146 (single agent) in due course.

Sareum's CEO, Dr Tim Mitchell, commented: "We are very pleased to report the anticipated start of the two clinical trials of CCT245737, the first from our development pipeline to be dosed in cancer patients."

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 in Phase I 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 of cancers that undergo replication stress, including certain types 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 and in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry in May 2016.

 

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