On April 27, 2021 Shasqi, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing precision activated oncology therapeutics with its proprietary Click Activated Protodrugs Against Cancer (CAPAC) Platform, reported that it has been awarded a $2 million Direct-to-Phase-2 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) (Press release, Shasqi, APR 27, 2021, View Source [SID1234578579]). These non-dilutive funds will support immune biomarker analysis of patient samples from Shasqi’s Phase 1 clinical trial of lead candidate SQ3370 as well as manufacturing process development.
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"We are thrilled the NCI sees the potential of SQ3370 as a novel therapy that could meaningfully impact outcomes for patients with solid tumors," said José M. Mejía Oneto, M.D., Ph.D., Founder and CEO of Shasqi. "Our goal at Shasqi is to improve the safety and efficacy of novel and existing standard of care cancer drugs by directly activating them at the tumor. Our approach is designed to improve the therapeutic window of a drug by maximizing the exposure of the drug to the tumor."
Wayne Saville, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of Shasqi commented, "We appreciate the NCI’s support to evaluate the immune signatures in patient samples from our ongoing Phase 1 trial of SQ3370. This information will provide mechanistic insight about the interplay between SQ3370 and changes to local and systemic immune responses observed in our preclinical tumor studies. In addition, funds from this grant will also allow us to fine-tune our current manufacturing process as we continue to advance SQ3370 through clinical studies."
CAPAC and SQ3370:
SQ3370 utilizes Shasqi’s proprietary CAPAC platform, a click chemistry-based approach that activates cancer drugs at a tumor with decreased systemic toxicity. The platform is based on the chemical reaction between an attenuated trans-cyclooctene-modified protodrug and a tetrazine-modified biopolymer. The biopolymer is injected into the target tumor lesion, where it precisely activates an intravenously infused protodrug. Unlike traditional targeted therapies, the CAPAC platform is agnostic to tumor characteristics that can vary from patient to patient, such as biomarker expression and enzymatic activity.