Press Release
St. Genis-Pouilly, France, 10 June 2022
Step Pharma, a world leader in CTPS1 inhibition for the targeted treatment of cancer, announces today that it is presenting encouraging data in three posters for its first-in-class, highly selective, orally bioavailable CTPS1 inhibitor STP938 at the European Hematology Association Congress being held June 9-17, 2022 in Vienna, Austria.
The data presented demonstrate the high specificity of CTPS1 inhibition achieved with STP938, with inhibition of human neoplastic T cell growth shown both in vivo and in vitro. Moreover, inhibition of CTPS1 by STP938 shows anti-proliferative activity in multiple myeloma through the induction of replication stress and demonstrates synergistic activity when combined with ATR inhibition.
These data support Step Pharma’s belief in STP938’s targeted cytotoxic potential in haematological cancers. STP938 displays favourable preclinical safety and pharmacological properties and is due to progress into first in human clinical studies in the second half of 2022.
Philip Beer, Head of Research and Translational Medicine at Step Pharma, commented:
“Our promising findings demonstrate the importance of CTPS1 for cancer cell proliferation and the potential of STP938 as a targeted therapy for the treatment of cancers with high unmet clinical need. CTPS1 plays a crucial role in neoplastic cells, where inhibiting its activity could have a significant impact in a number of different cancers, either as monotherapy or in combination with existing or novel cancer drugs. We look forward to progressing this exciting new therapy into the clinic.”
Andrew Parker, Chief Executive Officer of Step Pharma, said:
“Our deep understanding of the pathways and CTPS1 biology has led to the development of STP938, a targeted therapy with predicted superior safety and efficacy profiles compared to existing treatments. We believe that this highly selective treatment has the potential to kill cancer cells without affecting immune cell differentiation and therefore could represent a significant step change in the way we treat cancer.”
Full details of the posters are:
Authors: Philip Beer, Hélène Asnagli, Norbert Minet, Eef Hoeben, Andrew Parker, Alain Fischer, Sylvain Latour
Date and Time: Available from June 10, 09:00 CEST and on-demand until Monday, August 15, 2022, on the Congress platform
Session title: Lymphoma Biology & Translational Research
Poster presentation: CTPS1 is a novel therapeutic target in myeloma – selective small molecule inhibition delivers single agent activity and synergises with ATR inhibition
Authors: Christina Pfeiffer, Philip Beer, Hélène Asnagli, Arnold Bolomsky, Alexander Grandits, Anja Schneller, Julia Huber, Niklas Zojer, Martin Schreder, Andrew Parker, Heinz Ludwig
Date and Time: Available from June 10, 09:00 CEST and on-demand until Monday, August 15, 2022, on the Congress platform
Session title: Myeloma and other monoclonal gammopathies – Biology & Translational Research
Poster Presentation: Selective small molecule inhibition of CTP synthase 1 (CTPS1) suppresses T cell proliferation and cytokine release, highlighting a novel therapeutic target for graft-versus-host disease
Authors: Philip Beer, Andrew Parker, Hélène Asnagli
Date and Time: Available from June 10, 09:00 CEST and on-demand until Monday, August 15, 2022, on the Congress platform
Session title: Stem cell transplantation – Experimental
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About Step Pharma
Step Pharma is focused on the development of a novel class of oral nucleotide synthesis inhibitors targeting CTPS1 for the improved treatment of a range of cancer types. The company has identified several inhibitors of CTPS1, with the most advanced, STP938, being prepared for clinical studies in haematological malignancies.
Step Pharma was founded in June 2014 by Kurma Partners, the Imagine Institute, and Sygnature Discovery based on the scientific discoveries of Dr Sylvain Latour and Prof. Alain Fischer (UMR1163 Inserm unit). Step Pharma is based in Saint-Genis-Pouilly, France, and is supported by a strong investor base led by Kurma Partners and including Bpifrance (Fonds Biothérapies Innovantes et Maladies Rares and InnoBio2 Fund), Pontifax, Hadean Ventures, Sunstone Life Science Ventures, Inserm Transfert Initiative, Idinvest, Sygnature Discovery and the Imagine Institute.
For more information please contact
Step Pharma
Andrew Parker, Chief Executive Officer
contact@step-ph.com
