Dublin, Ireland, June 4, 2013
Inflection Biosciences Ltd, a private company focused on the development of targeted small molecule treatments for cancer, today announced that it has entered into a license agreement with the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) for the exclusive, worldwide rights to develop and commercialise several novel kinase inhibitors for the treatment of cancer.
The compounds leverage the CNIO’s considerable expertise in drug discovery and comprise a novel pan-PIM kinase inhibitor program and a number of unique multi-targeting kinase inhibitors combining activity on PIM kinase and additional kinases including the phosphoinositide-3 kinase and the mammalian target of rapamycin (PI3K/mTOR) pathway. All molecules have shown good activity in preclinical models, are orally-available with excellent pharmaceutical properties.
Dr Michael O’Neill, Co-Founder and Director of Research and Development at Inflection Biosciences commented “Following an extensive global search we are delighted to have secured assets in late preclinical stages of development of this quality and potential and from an organisation recognised internationally for the quality of its cancer research and its drug discovery programs.”
Dr María Blasco, Director of CNIO added “It is a great satisfaction for the CNIO to join forces with the experienced team at Inflection Biosciences, allowing us to take full advantage of our ability to innovate cancer treatments.”
Inflection Biosciences and CNIO will collaborate in the conduct of additional preclinical studies on the programs to further profile the potential treatments. Inflection Biosciences will have responsibility for nominating lead candidates and for onward development.
Inflection Biosciences further announced today that it has secured its first financing round from a private investor and Enterprise Ireland. The funds raised will primarily be used to advance the Company’s development pipeline.
“We are grateful to our investors for sharing our vision to make a real contribution to the development of important new treatments for patients suffering with cancer.” commented Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Inflection Biosciences, Darren Cunningham.
Dr Brian O’Neill, Manager, High Potential Start-Ups, Industrial & Lifesciences at Enterprise Ireland added “Inflection Biosciences is a great example of an early stage technology company with a highly experienced team that is leveraging the resources and discovery expertise of the leading global research institutes to commercialise innovative treatments for cancer. The Inflection Biosciences’ approach to drug development offers enormous potential by bringing some of the best research the world can offer into Ireland, a country recognised for fostering and funding innovation led ventures. Enterprise Ireland is delighted to support this high potential start up business.”
About PIM Kinase Inhibitors Kinases regulate cellular signalling networks and thereby control key functions such as proliferation, invasion, survival and differentiation, all important events in tumour development and metastases. PIM proteins belong to a family of serine/threonine kinases composed of 3 isoforms, PIM1, PIM2 and PIM3. PIM kinases play a key role in the cell cycle regulation, having potent anti-apoptotic activity. Knockout mice lacking PIM kinases showed minimal disruption to normal cell function indicating that the mechanism of PIM kinase inhibition would not be associated with serious adverse events. Increased PIM kinase expression is associated with malignant subtypes of leukemia, lymphoma and a number of solid tumours including pancreatic, colorectal and oesophageal cancers and therefore represents a very promising drug target.
About the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) The CNIO was created in 1998 by the National Health Institute Carlos III, with the essential goal of developing research of excellence and providing innovative technology in the field of cancer. A study published in 2011 (SIR World Report 2011) portrays the centre as the best cancer research entity in the world in terms of Excellence Rate and percentage of high quality publications. Dr Maria Blasco is the Director of the CNIO since June 2011. Since its creation, the CNIO has established collaborations with several national and international companies. Moreover, in the past two years the CNIO has launched two spin-off companies: Life Length, focused on marketing in-house-developed technology for telomere length determination as a novel method of disease risk prediction; and BioncoTech, which develops a new treatment for highly aggressive melanoma. More information available at www.cnio.es
About Inflection Biosciences Inflection Biosciences Ltd is developing small molecule therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. Based in Ireland and the UK, the Company is creating a pipeline of highly innovative cancer treatments through alliances with leading cancer research organisations. The pipeline includes a novel PIM kinase inhibitor program and a unique multi-targeting kinase inhibitor program in preclinical development. For more information please visit the Company’s website at www.inflectionbio.com
For Further Information Contact:
Darren Cunningham, Chief Executive Officer Inflection Biosciences Ltd info@inflectionbio.com +353 (0)1 4003615
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