Preclinical Efficacy for Immunotherapy Combination

Sareum Holdings plc

("Sareum" or "the Company")

Sierra Oncology Reports Preclinical Efficacy for Immunotherapy Combination with its Chk1 inhibitor SRA737 in Small Cell Lung Cancer Models

Sareum Holdings plc (AIM: SAR), the specialist small molecule drug development business, notes that Sierra Oncology, the licence holder advancing clinical cancer candidate SRA737, has reported preclinical efficacy data for an immunotherapy combination with its Chk1 inhibitor SRA737 in a poster that was presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Conference on Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy in Miami Beach, Florida. The poster titled "The oral Chk1 inhibitor, SRA737, synergizes with immune checkpoint blockade in small cell lung cancer (SCLC)," was presented on Thursday, 29 November between 5:00 and 7:00 pm (ET).

Dr Tim Mitchell, CEO of Sareum Holdings plc, said: "We are encouraged by the findings of this study, which was presented at AACR. It showed SRA737 activated the innate immune signalling Stimulator of Interferon Genes (STING) pathway and demonstrated clear anti-tumour activity in an immunocompetent preclinical model of small cell lung cancer. These are important findings as SCLC remains a significant unmet need and one where immunotherapies have yielded limited efficacy. These encouraging preclinical results highlight an additional potential opportunity for SRA737 that warrants further evaluation."

Title: The oral Chk1 inhibitor, SRA737, synergizes with immune checkpoint blockade in small cell lung cancer (SCLC).

Authors: T. Sen et al.

The full announcement by Sierra Oncology can be found by clicking here

A copy of poster can be found here: http://investor.sierraoncology.com/publications 

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Notes for editors: 

Sareum is a specialist drug development company delivering targeted small molecule therapeutics, to improve the treatment of cancer and autoimmune disease. The Company generates value through licensing its candidates to international pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies at the preclinical or early clinical trials stage.

Sareum's leading clinical-stage programme, SRA737, a novel Checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1) inhibitor licensed to NASDAQ-listed Sierra Oncology, is in Phase 2 clinical trials targeting ovarian and other advanced cancers. The key role of Chk1 in cancer cell replication and DNA damage repair suggests that SRA737 may have broad application as a targeted therapy in combination with other oncology and immune-oncology drugs in genetically defined patients.

Sareum is also advancing internal programmes focused on distinct dual tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) /Janus kinase 1 (JAK1) inhibitors through preclinical development as therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancers. TYK2 and JAK1 have roles in pro-inflammatory responses in autoimmune diseases (e.g. psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel diseases and lupus) and tumour cell proliferation in certain cancers (e.g. T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and some solid tumours). The Company is targeting first human clinical trials in each indication in 2020.

The Company also has an Aurora+FLT3 inhibitor targeting haematological cancers, which is at the preclinical development stage.

Sareum Holdings plc is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, trading under the ticker SAR. For further information, please visit www.sareum.co.uk

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