On April 2, 2019 Calithera Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: CALA), a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing novel small molecule drugs for the treatment of cancer and other life-threatening diseases, reported new preclinical data for the company’s CD73 inhibitor CB-708 (Press release, Calithera Biosciences, APR 2, 2019, View Source [SID1234535224]). The data will be presented today at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia.
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CB-708 is a selective, oral inhibitor of CD73, an enzyme that synthesizes the immunosuppressive agent adenosine and is over-expressed in multiple tumor types. By blocking adenosine production in the tumor, CB-708 is designed to enhance T-cell activation leading to anti-tumor activity. Calithera plans to initiate clinical development of the compound in the second half of 2019.
"We are excited to share these new preclinical data on CB-708, our small-molecule CD73 inhibitor designed to be dosed orally in patients, and to demonstrate our progress in advancing this compound into the clinic," said Susan Molineaux, PhD, president and chief executive officer of Calithera. "CB-708 has the potential to be combined with immunotherapy or chemotherapy to activate the immune system and improve outcomes for patients with a variety of cancers."
The preclinical data being presented today by Clarissa Lee, Ph.D. (Abstract #4134, Section 25, Board 8), demonstrate that CB-708 is a potent and selective inhibitor of CD73 that has immune-mediated, single agent activity in syngeneic mouse tumor models. In addition, in pre-clinical studies CB-708 is well-tolerated and shows enhanced anti-tumor activity when combined with either an anti-PD-L1 immunotherapy or with chemotherapeutic agents such as oxaliplatin or doxorubicin.
Additional meeting information can be found at the AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) website www.aacr.org. The CB-708 poster presentation will be available at www.calithera.com on the Publications page.
About CB-708 and CD73
CB-708 is an orally bioavailable small molecule inhibitor of CD73, an enzyme in the tumor microenvironment that produces adenosine, a powerful inhibitor of immune function in tumors. CD73 is expressed across a wide range of tumor types and tumor-infiltrating leukocytes. Expression of CD73 often correlates with poor prognosis in patients with cancer. Blockade of adenosine production by CD73 inhibition is expected to reverse immunosuppression in the tumor microenvironment and enhance the immune system’s ability to fight the cancer.