Camsirubicin analogue expands Monopar’s therapeutic pipeline.
Monopar Therapeutics Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on developing proprietary therapeutics designed to extend life or improve the quality of life for cancer patients, announced that it has entered into a collaboration agreement with the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore (CSI Singapore) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) to evaluate the activity of MNPR-202 and related analogues in multiple types of cancer.
MNPR-202 was designed to retain the same potentially non-cardiotoxic backbone as camsirubicin but is modified at other positions, which may enable it to work in certain cancers that are resistant to camsirubicin and doxorubicin. Monopar recently announced a composition of matter U.S. patent (US10,450,340) covering MNPR-202 and related analogues. While we expect camsirubicin to enter a dose-escalation run-in clinical trial in advanced soft tissue sarcoma in the second half of this year, CSI Singapore will explore how the immune system recognises cancer cells treated with MNPR-202 and related analogues to guide the rational design of immunotherapy-chemotherapy combinations for the treatment of cancer.
CSI Singapore is one of Asia’s premier cancer research centres and NUS is consistently ranked as one of the world’s top universities. Anand Jeyasekharan, MBBS MRCP (UK) PhD, of CSI Singapore, NUS is an expert in the molecular and biological responses of cancer cells to chemotherapy. Through this collaboration, we hope to gain fundamental insight into how MNPR-202 and related analogues alter the DNA of cancer cells and how the immune system then identifies and eliminates these cells, resulting in immunogenic cell death (ICD). The relationship between chemotherapy and ICD constitutes a prominent pathway for immune system activation against various cancers, including cancers that are considered to be “cold” and poorly responsive to checkpoint inhibition alone. A deeper understanding of ICD response may reveal additional indications where MNPR-202 and related analogues could have significant potential as anticancer therapies.
“By expanding our understanding of MNPR-202 activity against chemotherapy-resistant tumours and working with Dr Jeyasekharan to assess immunogenic potential, we may be able to inform and refine our development strategy toward indications where MNPR-202 could be most impactful,” said Andrew Mazar, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of Monopar.
“We believe MNPR-202 has the potential to disrupt the current chemotherapy landscape and impact a broad range of cancers,” said Dr Anand Jeyasekharan, who will be the Principal Investigator at CSI Singapore. “We are pleased to collaborate with Monopar to further our current research and hope to aid in the advancement of MNPR-202 toward the clinic.”
“We are very excited to work with Cancer Institute of Singapore at the National University of Singapore and Dr Jeyasekharan on MNPR-202,” said Chandler Robinson, MD, CEO of Monopar. “A world-class reputation paired with deep expertise on the relationship between chemotherapy and immune cell activation make Dr Jeyasekharan and CSI Singapore a great research partner.” [APBN]
Source: Monopar Therapeutics Inc.