On July 17, 2025 MAIA Biotechnology, Inc. (NYSE American: MAIA) ("MAIA", the "Company"), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing targeted immunotherapies for cancer, reported the publication of preclinical data from its second generation ateganosine prodrugs platform in Nucleic Acids Research (NAR), a leading open-access peer-reviewed scientific journal (Press release, MAIA Biotechnology, JUL 17, 2025, View Source [SID1234654433]). The study, titled "Novel Telomere-Targeting Dual-Pharmacophore Dinucleotide Prodrugs for Anticancer Therapy," details MAIA’s lead ateganosine (THIO)-derived second-generation prodrugs as promising new molecules in its strategy for enhancing cancer treatment and overcoming drug resistance. The manuscript with the data was published on June 26, 2025, in Volume 53, Issue 12 of the NAR journal.
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In January 2023, MAIA nominated one lead new molecular entity candidate (designated as MAIA-2021-20) and one back-up new molecular entity candidate (MAIA-2022-12) for further advancement into preclinical GLP-toxicity and other studies. More than 80 ateganosine-like compounds have been developed as part of MAIA’s second-generation telomere targeting program.
In the featured study, MAIA designed and synthesized divalent dinucleotide prodrugs comprised of two nucleosides. The lead THIO-containing compounds, with two THIO pharmacophores, demonstrated the strongest anticancer efficacy in vivo and induced the strongest host immune-memory responses in vivo.
"The reported study data has shown that the sequential combination of MAIA-2022-12 or MAIA-2021-20 with an immune checkpoint inhibitor demonstrated a significantly lower 50% inhibitory concentration with superior anticancer efficacy compared with the corresponding monotherapies. The results suggest that MAIA-2022-12 and MAIA-2021-20 are promising candidates for future preclinical and clinical studies," said MAIA Chairman and CEO Vlad Vitoc, M.D. "We are working now to advance at least one of the candidates into human clinical trials upon completion of required GLP-toxicity and other evaluations."
About Ateganosine
Ateganosine (THIO, 6-thio-dG or 6-thio-2’-deoxyguanosine) is a first-in-class investigational telomere-targeting agent currently in clinical development to evaluate its activity in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Telomeres, along with the enzyme telomerase, play a fundamental role in the survival of cancer cells and their resistance to current therapies. The modified nucleotide 6-thio-2’-deoxyguanosine induces telomerase-dependent telomeric DNA modification, DNA damage responses, and selective cancer cell death. Ateganosine-damaged telomeric fragments accumulate in cytosolic micronuclei and activates both innate (cGAS/STING) and adaptive (T-cell) immune responses. The sequential treatment of ateganosine followed by PD-(L)1 inhibitors resulted in profound and persistent tumor regression in advanced, in vivo cancer models by induction of cancer type–specific immune memory. Ateganosine is presently developed as a second or later line of treatment for NSCLC for patients that have progressed beyond the standard-of-care regimen of existing checkpoint inhibitors.