SRA737 Phase I/IIa data to be presented at ASCO

(AIM: SAR)         

23 April 2019

Sareum Holdings plc

("Sareum" or "the Company")

Sareum notes that updated clinical data from Phase I/IIa trials of SRA737 (a Chk1 inhibitor) in subjects with advanced cancer will be presented at ASCO 2019

Sareum Holdings plc (AIM: SAR), the specialist small molecule drug development business, notes that two abstracts reporting updated clinical data from ongoing Phase I/IIa trials with SRA737 have been accepted for presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting held between 31 May - 4  June 2019 (Chicago, IL, USA). The abstract titles (below) have been published on the ASCO website and the full abstracts will be published on Wednesday, 15 May at 17:00 hrs EST (22:00 hrs BST). Both abstracts are scheduled to be presented on Saturday, 1 June.

Abstract 3094:   A first-in-human phase I/II trial of SRA737 (a Chk1 Inhibitor) in subjects with advanced cancer.

Abstract 3095:   A phase I/II first-in-human trial of oral SRA737 (a Chk1 inhibitor) given in combination with low-dose gemcitabine in subjects with advanced cancer.

SRA737 is a potent, highly selective, orally bioavailable small molecule inhibitor of Checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1), a key regulator of cell cycle progression and the DNA Damage Response (DDR). SRA737 is licensed to Sierra Oncology and is currently being investigated in two Phase I/II clinical trials primarily focused on patients with ovarian cancer: SRA737-01, a monotherapy study, and SRA737-02, a drug combination study evaluating SRA737 potentiated by non-cytotoxic low dose gemcitabine.

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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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