Sprint Bioscience adds new cancer drug program to its project portfolio
Sprint Bioscience AB (publ) announces today that the company is broadening its pipeline with an additional drug program for the treatment of solid tumors. The program goes by the program name NIMA and aims to develop drugs to inhibit a naturally occurring protein that is associated with poor survival in several different forms of cancer.
An important aspect of the development of a tumor is that the cancer cells can affect their environment to facilitate the growth of the tumor. This environment is called the tumor microenvironment and differs from the environment around the healthy cells in the body. The ability of cancer cells to reprogram the healthy cells present in the tumor facilitates tumor growth and can inhibit the body's immune system.
The NIMA program focuses on a target protein that produces metabolites that are important for this reprogramming of the tumor's microenvironment. Sprint Bioscience develops inhibitors of this target protein to restore balance and thereby prevent the growth of cancer cells while increasing the immune system's ability to attack them. High levels of the current target protein have been found in tumors from, amongst others, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, and colorectal cancer. Patients with high levels of this protein have a poorer prognosis.
“We have once again been able to identify a target protein that constitutes a very attractive starting point for a new drug program. The ambition is to influence the microenvironment of the tumors so that the growth of cancer cells is inhibited and the body's immune system can more easily fight them. We will in a time- and resource-efficient way drive the project to a point where it can dock into an international pharmaceutical company's portfolio and be taken further to clinic development towards the market and cancer patients who need new treatment option,”, says Erik Kinnman, CEO, Sprint Bioscience.
The initiation of the NIMA program is part of the company's accelerating strategy to broaden its project portfolio in the cancer area and thereby create opportunities for further licensing deals that can generate additional multiple revenue streams.
For further information, please contact:
Erik Kinnman, verkställande direktör, Sprint Bioscience
Tel: 08-411 44 55
E-post: erik.kinnman@sprintbioscience.com
www.sprintbioscience.com
About Sprint Bioscience
Sprint Bioscience develops small-molecule first-in-class drug projects with a focus on oncology. Using fragment-based drug discovery, the company develops drug projects in a time- and resource-efficient way. These are then out-licensed to global drug companies during the preclinical phase. The company has successfully entered into several license agreements amounting to a potential value of USD 747 million in milestone payments as well as income from royalties on sales.
The company is headquartered in Stockholm with laboratories in Huddinge. The Sprint Bioscience share is listed on the Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market and is traded under the short name SPRINT. Further information is available on the company's website; www.sprintbioscience.com.
Sprint Bioscience │ Novum │141 57 Huddinge │ Sweden │ 46-(0)8-411 44 55 │info@sprintbioscience.com
