Suzhou, China; June 20, 2018 -- CStone Pharmaceuticals (CStone) today announced the initiation of a Phase I clinical trial in Australia for CS3006, a highly selective, proprietary small molecule inhibitor of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MEK). The first patient enrolled in the study has been dosed at the Linear Clinical Research Center in Australia.
"MEK inhibition represents an important emerging
therapeutic strategy for certain cancers. We are very pleased to announce the first
patient dosing in this Phase I study,” said Dr. Frank Jiang, CStone’s Chief
Executive Officer at CStone, “We are confident that CS3006 has the potential to
offer advantages over existing MEK inhibitors available on the market."
CS3006 is CStone's third independently
developed pipeline candidate to enter the first-in-human clinical trial in
Australia, after the programmed death-1 (PD-1) inhibitor CS1003 and the cytotoxic
T-lymphocyte-associated protein-4 (CTLA-4) inhibitor CS1002. These trials will lay
a solid foundation for CStone to explore the effectiveness of these drug
candidates both as monotherapy and combination therapies in China and globally.
Dr. Jason Yang, Chief Medical Officer at
CStone, commented: "CS3006 is a highly selective MEK inhibitor. CS3006
demonstrated superior anti-tumor efficacy than the leading marketed MEK
inhibitor in preclinical in vitro and in vivo studies, and the potential to combine
with CStone's immuno-oncology pipeline products. This study comprises of a dose
escalation phase and an expansion phase that will determine the appropriate dosage
for CS3006 in patients with solid tumors."
More information on the Phase I study for
CS3006 can be found here.
About
the MEK pathway
The RAS-RAF-MEK-ERK signal transduction
pathway is among the most fundamental intracellular signaling pathways found in
the majority of cells and is responsible for regulating key cellular activities
such as cell growth, proliferation, survival, and apoptosis. MEK1 and MEK2 are
serine/threonine protein kinases that act downstream of RAS and RAF to activate
ERK. The inhibition of MEK can affect tumor cell survival, proliferation, and
differentiation. Currently, two MEK inhibitors have been approved and marketed
globally: Novartis's MEKINIST® (trametinib) and Roche's COTELLIC® (cobimetinib).
About CStone Pharmaceuticals
CStone Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical
company devoted to the development of innovative drugs. With a broad oncology
pipeline, the company is focused on the development of immuno-oncology based
combination therapies. All members of the management team are seasoned
executives from top multinational pharmaceutical companies. CStone has
successfully built up an industry leading team with clinical development and
translational medicine as its core competence. CStone has gained the backing of
prestigious VC/PE funds in two financing rounds to date, raising $150 million
in a Series A round in July 2016, followed by $260 million in a Series B round
in May 2018. With an experienced team, a rich pipeline, a robust R&D model,
and substantial funding, CStone is well positioned as the partner of choice for
multinational pharmaceutical and biotech companies to develop drugs in China
and the Asia-Pacific region.
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