Preliminary results from two early-stage trials featuring Sareum Holdings PLC’s (LON:SAR) SRA737 checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1) inhibitor cancer candidate are due to be published in the first half of 2019.
Chk1 controls a cancer cell's response to DNA damage, which could be caused by the disease itself or intentionally caused by chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
READ: Sareum secures funding for drug programme
US firm Sierra Oncology, which is the licence holder of SRA737, said in its quarterly update it has made “substantial progress” with its two clinical development programmes for the compound.
Sierra is currently undertaking a Phase I/II monotherapy trial – i.e. SRA737 on its own – of the drug in patients with advanced cancer, as well as another Phase I/II study in which SRA737 is being combined with low-dose gemcitabine, one of the most commonly prescribed chemotherapies.
The NASDAQ-listed company said it has made “substantial progress” in recruiting patients with high grade serous ovarian cancer and that it expects to report preliminary efficacy results from these trials in the first half of next year.
Sierra has also been busy preparing for a third trial of SRA737 in combination with niraparib, a PARP inhibitor which stops cancer cells from repairing themselves, in prostate cancer patients, which is expected to begin within the next few months.