Salarius Pharmaceuticals to Identify Salarius's Flagship Medication...
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Salarius Pharmaceuticals to Identify Salarius's Flagship Medication Candidate with Fox Chase Cancer Center

Pharma Tech Outlook | Thursday, December 23, 2021

Salarius begins a research partnership with Fox Chase Cancer Center’s Cancer Epigenetics Institute to identify additional indications and potential biomarkers for Salarius’s flagship medication candidate, Seclidemstat.

FREMONT, CA: Seclidemstat is a new, selective, and reversible oral LSD1 inhibitor that inhibits both the catalytic and scaffolding activities of LSD1. Seclidemstat offers a tolerable safety profile and preliminary evidence of efficacy in strongly pretreated patients with relapsed/refractory ES.  Salarius Pharmaceuticals Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel therapies for patients with sarcomas, paediatric cancers, and other hematologic and solid tumors, enters into a research collaboration with Fox Chase Cancer Center’s Cancer Epigenetics Institute. The research, which will be conducted in the laboratory of the institute’s director, Johnathan Whetstine, PhD, will aid in the identification of additional indications and potential biomarkers for Salarius’ flagship medication candidate seclidemstat.

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Seclidemstat (SP-2577) is a new, reversible oral inhibitor of lysine-specific histone demethylase 1, also known as LSD1, an enzyme involved in the genesis and progression of numerous malignancies. The development of therapies that inhibit LSD1’s cancer-promoting action is a rapidly developing subject of research.

Speaking about the collaboration, Whetstine says, “We are excited to be working with Salarius to further explore the potential of seclidemstat and LSD1 inhibition in new indications. Overexpression of the LSD1 enzyme is associated with poor prognosis across a variety of cancer types. Building on our prior research expertise and knowledge, we will explore the impact of LSD1 depletion and LSD1 catalytic inhibition on the transcriptome in order to better understand the enzymes catalytic and non-catalytic functions and the impact of seclidemstat on those functions.”

Salarius believes that seclidemstat takes a novel approach in comparison to other LSD1 inhibitors currently in development in that it targets both the enzymatic activity of LSD1 and its scaffolding properties, thereby establishing a dual mechanism of action that may provide differential therapeutic activity in a variety of cancer types, including solid tumors. Currently, in clinical trials, LSD1 inhibitors have primarily been used to treat haematological malignancies and myeloproliferative neoplasms.

“Seclidemstats ability to target the scaffolding property of the LSD1 enzyme has high relevance in several cancer types and could lead to potent inhibition with advantageous therapeutic properties. Insights into these aspects of LSD1 regulation could significantly impact our understanding about LSD1 function and therapeutic intervention,” adds Whetstine, who has consulted for Salarius and served the company in an advisory capacity.

A Phase 1/2 clinical trial is now conducted to evaluate seclidemstat as a potential treatment for sarcomas. This trial evaluates seclidemstat as a single agent in patients with myxoid liposarcoma and other FET-rearranged sarcomas and seclidemstat combined with topotecan and cyclophosphamide as a potential second-and third-line therapy for Ewing sarcoma, a lethal paediatric bone cancer. Fox Chase is one of nine clinical trial locations in the United States that are currently enrolling patients.

“This is an exciting opportunity to advance our development of seclidemstat by harnessing the scientific expertise of a renowned cancer research center and one of the rising stars in the field of LSD1 inhibition,” states David Arthur, Chief Executive Officer of Salarius Pharmaceuticals, regarding the collaboration. “To have Fox Chase and a scientist of Dr. Johnathan Whetstines caliber involved in this project is a strong validation of our work with seclidemstat. With the help of Fox Chase Cancer Center and Dr. Whetstine, our ultimate aim is to bring new treatment options and hope to more patients and their families fighting hard-to-treat cancers.”

Salarius' clinical program for seclidemstat was recently expanded to include hematologic cancers. In Houston, the MD Anderson Cancer Center initiated a Phase 1/2 clinical trial evaluating seclidemstat combined with azacytidine in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes and chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia.

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