HARRISON, NY / ACCESSWIRE / August 19, 2020 / Sapience Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of peptide therapeutics to address difficult to treat oncology indications, announced today that it was awarded a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate ST101 activity against breast cancer. The grant will provide $255,240 to support research aimed at characterizing the pharmacokinetic profile and optimal dosing regimen of ST101 for treatment of breast cancer, with a focus on metastatic disease. Patients with metastatic breast cancer currently have very limited treatment options and average 5-year survival of 22%.
"We are very pleased to have received this highly competitive grant from the NCI," said Jim Rotolo, Ph.D., Head of Research of Sapience Therapeutics. "This award validates the potential of ST101 as a novel therapeutic for breast cancer and enables us to dig deeper and explore specific opportunities within metastatic and triple negative breast cancer, two areas of high unmet need."
ST101 is a peptide antagonist of the transcription factor C/EBPβ, which drives tumor cell proliferation and survival in a variety of human malignancies, including breast cancer. Preclinical studies of ST101 have demonstrated in vitro cell kill across a wide range of breast cancer subtypes, including triple negative breast cancer. ST101 has also demonstrated significant in vivo activity against hormone receptor positive (HRpos) breast tumors in preclinical testing. Sapience plans to include locally advanced/metastatic HRpos breast cancer as an expansion cohort in its Phase 1/2 trial of ST101, which commenced in July 2020.
This grant was awarded by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R43CA250786. The content of this press release is solely the responsibility of the author and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
About Sapience Therapeutics
Sapience Therapeutics, Inc., is a privately held, clinical stage biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing peptide-based therapeutics for major unmet medical needs, particularly high mortality cancers. With platform-based discovery of peptide therapeutics that disrupt protein-protein interactions, Sapience's molecules hold potential to target intracellular interactions that are traditionally considered "undruggable targets". Its lead compound, ST101, is a first-in-class molecule with potential applications in various solid tumors and hematologic malignancies.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, and any statements other than statements of historical fact could be deemed to be forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements may include, among other things, statements regarding future events that involve significant risks and uncertainties. These statements are based on management's current expectations, and actual results and future events may differ materially as a result of certain factors, including, without limitation, risks related to the application of the net proceeds from the offering to Sapience's product development objectives, our ability to obtain additional funds, and meet applicable regulatory standards and receive required regulatory approvals. These are forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Sapience does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events, changed assumptions or otherwise.
Contacts
Sapience Therapeutics, Inc.:
Barry Kappel, Ph.D., M.B.A.
President and Chief Executive Officer
[email protected]
SOURCE: Sapience Therapeutics, Inc.