On July 12, 2021 GlycoMimetics, Inc. (Nasdaq: GLYC) reported that clinicians at University of California (UC) Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center initiated dosing of the first patient in a clinical study of uproleselan combined with venetoclax and azacitidine for the treatment of older or unfit patients with treatment-naïve acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Brian A. Jonas, MD, PhD, FACP, UC Davis Division of Hematology/Oncology, is the clinical trial’s principal investigator (Press release, GlycoMimetics, JUL 12, 2021, View Source [SID1234584780]).
Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:
Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing
Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!
According to Eric Feldman, MD, GlycoMimetics’ Chief Medical Officer, "While the field has seen strong uptake on venetoclax paired with a hypomethylating agent (HMA) in the frontline unfit AML setting, the depth and durability of responses, particularly in patients with adverse risk biology, has been somewhat less than optimal. In this setting, there remains a significant unmet need, and we know that environment-mediated drug resistance (EMDR), driven by E-selectin, contributes to HMA/venetoclax resistance. If the study shows that E-selectin antagonism with uproleselan improves minimal residual disease (MRD) negative response rates, this would be an important step forward that underscores the foundational opportunities for uproleselan across the broad spectrum of patients treated for AML."
The UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center study is an investigator-sponsored trial (IST) for which GlycoMimetics is providing uproleselan. Designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the triple combination, the study is non-randomized, open label and multi-center. The goal of the two-part trial is first to determine a recommended Phase 2 dose, and then to explore efficacy in a dose expansion cohort. Up to 31 patients will be enrolled, and a preliminary/interim readout is expected in 2022.
At the 2020 annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) (Free ASH Whitepaper), a preclinical study of uproleselan in combination with venetoclax and the HMA azacitidine demonstrated the triple combination’s potential in overcoming some of the limitations related to depth and durability of response with venetoclax/HMA alone. An oral presentation highlighted how antagonizing E-selectin with uproleselan can overcome microenvironment-mediated resistance to venetoclax/HMA therapy. In the study, the addition of uproleselan both prolonged survival of the murine model, and also promoted normal hematopeoic stem cell pro-survival signaling.
About Uproleselan
Discovered and developed by GlycoMimetics, uproleselan is an investigational, first-in-class, targeted antagonist of E-selectin. Uproleselan (yoo’ pro le’ sel an), currently in a comprehensive Phase 3 development program in AML, has received Breakthrough Therapy designation from the U.S. FDA and the Chinese Health authority for the treatment of adult AML patients with relapsed or refractory disease. Uproleselan is designed to block E-selectin (an adhesion molecule on cells in the bone marrow) from binding with blood cancer cells as a targeted approach to disrupting well-established mechanisms of leukemic cell resistance.