New SRA737 preclin data to be presented at AACR

Sareum Holdings plc

("Sareum" or "the Company")

Sareum notes that an abstract reporting new preclinical data for SRA737 has been selected as a late-breaking oral presentation at AACR 2019

Sareum Holdings plc (AIM: SAR), the specialist small molecule drug development business, notes that Sierra Oncology ("Sierra"), the licence holder advancing clinical cancer candidate SRA737, announced late yesterday that an abstract reporting preclinical data for SRA737, its Chk1 inhibitor, plus low dose gemcitabine (LDG), in combination with immunotherapy, has been selected for a late-breaking oral presentation at the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2019, to be held in Atlanta, GA, USA from 29 March to 3 April 2019.

 A late-breaking abstract details highly significant and timely findings in any area of cancer research that were not available at the time of the regular abstract deadline. Only those abstracts that are deemed to be of high scientific priority will be accepted for presentation at the meeting.

Commenting in the Sierra announcement, Dr. Lauren Byers, Associate Professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, said: "We previously reported that SRA737 activated the innate immune signalling STING pathway and demonstrated significant synergistic anti-tumour activity with immunotherapy in an immunotherapy-refractory small cell lung cancer (SCLC) model. SRA737 + LDG is a novel drug combination, where gemcitabine acts as a potent inducer of replication stress that potentiates SRA737's activity. These new studies reveal a striking immunomodulatory effect of SRA737 + LDG that results in some of the most profound synergistic activity with anti-PD-L1 therapy that we have observed in this model. We are excited by the potential clinical translatability of these findings and their possible broader impact on immune checkpoint blockade strategies."

Dr. Christian Hassig, Chief Scientific Officer, Sierra Oncology, added: "The dramatic enhancement of immunotherapy anti-tumour activity in combination with SRA737 + LDG provides a strong preclinical rationale for the potential of this replication stress targeting strategy to broaden the limited clinical efficacy of immunotherapy observed in certain cancers, such as SCLC."

The full announcement can be found by clicking here

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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 (SDC-1801) and cancers (SDC-1802). 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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