On July 11, 2023 Salarius Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SLRX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company using protein inhibition and protein degradation to develop cancer therapies for patients in need of new treatment options, reported U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance of the company’s investigational new drug (IND) application to commence a Phase 1 clinical trial with SP-3164 in patients with relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) (Press release, Salarius Pharmaceuticals, JUL 12, 2023, View Source [SID1234633199]). Salarius expects to begin treating patients in the dose-escalation portion of the trial in the second half of 2023 to evaluate safety, clinical activity, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.
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"FDA clearance of the SP-3164 IND marks another significant milestone for Salarius and demonstrates our continued focus and commitment to bringing new therapies to patients in need of new treatment options," said David Arthur, president and chief executive officer of Salarius, "We now plan to enroll NHL patients in the dose-escalation portion of the clinical trial and will then focus on patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in the second portion of the trial."
According to the American Cancer Society, NHL is one of the most common cancers in the U.S., accounting for about 4% of all cancers1. RareDiseaseAdvisor estimates that DLBCL is the most common type of NHL, accounting for approximately 31% of NHL cases in Western countries2.
During the trial, Salarius will be assessing the applicability of the gene signature in predicting response to SP-3164. Previous research with similar agents indicates that patients with an identifiable gene signature may be more likely to respond to SP-3164 treatment. SP-3164 treatment.
Mr. Arthur continued, "More than 80,000 new cases of NHL are expected to be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2023, and even with advances in cancer treatments, more than 20,000 Americans are expected to die from NHL1. We believe SP-3164 may provide an additional treatment option for many of these patients.
"First generation targeted protein degraders (TPD) have generated a great deal of enthusiasm within the pharmaceutical and medical communities, with first-generation TPD’s such as Revlimid and Pomalyst together generating more than $16 billion in 2021 sales. We believe SP-3164, a next generation TPD, can build upon the success of the first-generation TPDs," Mr. Arthur concluded.
About SP-3164
SP-3164 is an oral, next-generation molecular glue that uses Salarius’ deuterium-enabled chiral switching platform to stabilize the preferred (S)-enantiomer of avadomide, an extensively studied clinical compound that has demonstrated encouraging single-agent and combination-therapy clinical efficacy in NHL and other hematologic malignancies. The addition of deuterium at the chiral center of the molecule prevents conversion to the unwanted (R)-enantiomer, allowing for isolation and development of the preferred (S)-enantiomer into a potential new cancer treatment.
As such, SP-3164 is a new chemical entity and has been issued a composition-of-matter patent in the U.S. and select countries around the world. Data presented in December 2022 at the American Society for Hematology Annual Meeting showed compelling SP-3164 activity in lymphoma models and supports SP-3164’s potential for the Phase 1 clinical trial in NHL planned to initiate in 2H 2023. Additional supporting data were presented in April 2023 at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting showing SP-3164 demonstrates compelling antitumor activity in animal models of follicular lymphoma and multiple myeloma. Most recently, Salarius presented new data at the European Hematology Association (EHA) (Free EHA Whitepaper) Hybrid Conference in Frankfurt, Germany (June 2023) showing SP-3164 induces more degradation of cancer-promoting proteins than the standard-of-care agent lenalidomide (Revlimid).