On October 21, 2020 Curis, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRIS), a biotechnology company focused on the development of innovative therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, reported a paper published online in ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, a peer-reviewed publication of the American Chemical Society, titled, "Discovery of CA-4948, an Orally Bioavailable IRAK4 Inhibitor for Treatment of Hematologic Malignancies (Press release, Curis, OCT 21, 2020, View Source [SID1234568725])." The paper describes the preclinical work done to select CA-4948 and its on-target engagement and inhibition of IRAK4 in various animal studies. CA-4948 demonstrated potent IRAK4 inhibition, with favorable selectivity over other kinases, cellular activity, pharmacokinetics, efficacy, and safety, and showed tumor regression in a diffuse large B-cell lymphoma xenograft model without any overt toxicities.

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"We have been excited by the potential of CA-4948 since we began our partnership with its initial developer, Aurigene, in 2015," said James Dentzer, President and Chief Executive Officer of Curis. "This newly published paper further validates our confidence in CA-4948’s mechanism to selectively inhibit IRAK4 and its potential as a treatment for various hematologic malignancies. With our robust clinical development program for CA-4948 currently in Phase 1, we look forward to providing an update of clinical results for this program later this quarter."

About CA-4948

CA-4948 is a small molecule inhibitor of IRAK4, which is currently being tested in a Phase 1 dose escalating clinical trial in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphomas, including those with Myeloid Differentiation Primary Response 88 ("MYD88"), alterations. CA-4948 is also being investigated in a separate Phase 1 trial for acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes. The Company is planning a combination study of CA-4948 and ibrutinib, a BTK inhibitor, in non-Hodgkin lymphomas with planned enrollment commencing in the fourth quarter of 2020.