Drug developer Sareum (LON:SAR) has submitted its application for two Phase I clinical trials of CHK1 inhibitor CCT245737 to the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
The application means a £200,000 success milestone payment from Cancer Research Technology to Sareum.
Two clinical trials in cancer patients are planned. One will use CCT245737 as a single anti-cancer agent and the other in combination with standard-of-care chemotherapy.
Once approval is obtained, these trials will be funded in collaboration with co-development partner, the CRT Pioneer Fund.
Sareum has put up £797,500 of development funding so far.
Tim Mitchell, chief executive, said it was a further significant step towards the planned clinical trials with cancer patients.
Checkpoint Kinase 1 (CHK1) helps control the way many cancer cells respond to DNA damage, which may be a consequence of the cancer itself, or intentionally caused by chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Inhibition of CHK1 affects the ability of the cell to repair this damage.