On January 9, 2017 Sierra Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ: SRRA), a clinical stage drug development company focused on advancing next generation DNA Damage Response (DDR) therapeutics for the treatment of patients with cancer, reported that it has successfully transferred sponsorship of the two ongoing Phase 1 clinical trials evaluating its Checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1) inhibitor, SRA737, from the Cancer Research UK Centre for Drug Development to the company (Press release, ProNAi Therapeutics, JAN 9, 2017, View Source [SID1234517317]). In accordance with the license agreement for SRA737, a $2.0 million fee is due to CRT Pioneer Fund LP for the achievement of this milestone. Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo! "SRA737 targets Chk1, a key cell cycle checkpoint and central regulator of the DDR network, an exciting emerging target in oncology that has broad clinical and commercial potential," said Dr. Nick Glover, President and CEO of Sierra Oncology. "We are pleased to announce that the formal transfer of sponsorship to Sierra Oncology of these two actively recruiting clinical trials was completed as planned and ahead of schedule. Our goal is to provide an update from these studies within twelve months that will further inform our development strategy."
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Professor Paul Workman, Chief Executive and President of The Institute of Cancer Research, London, added, "Working with Sierra Oncology, we have made very promising progress with these studies. I’m confident that SRA737 – which was discovered here at the ICR – is in excellent hands for the future. Sierra is developing a sophisticated strategy for advancing SRA737 and we look forward to continuing to collaborate in taking this agent forward together for the benefit of cancer patients."
In September 2016, Sierra Oncology licensed the exclusive worldwide rights to SRA737, a highly selective, orally available, small molecule inhibitor of Chk1. SRA737 was discovered and initially developed by scientists in the Cancer Research UK Cancer Therapeutics Unit at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in collaboration with Sareum Holdings plc (LSE AIM: SAR), with funding provided by Cancer Research UK, the ICR and Sareum. SRA737 is being investigated in two recently initiated Phase 1 clinical trials in patients with advanced solid tumors: a monotherapy trial and a trial of SRA737 in combination with chemotherapy. (ClinicalTrials.gov identifiers: NCT02797964 and NCT02797977).
"Working with the ICR and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, we are charting an expanded and optimized development plan for SRA737. In particular, we are keen to evaluate SRA737’s potential to induce synthetic lethality as monotherapy in certain genetically-defined patient cohorts, while also exploring its potentiating effects in combination with chemotherapy," added Dr. Barbara Klencke, Chief Development Officer of Sierra Oncology. "Concurrently we are also conducting preclinical research evaluating SRA737 in combination with other DDR agents including PARP inhibitors and our proprietary Cdc7 inhibitor, SRA141, as well as with immuno-oncology therapeutics. Results of this research, expected in late 2017, will guide a potential next wave of clinical development for our asset, possibly further broadening its therapeutic utility."