Kintor Pharmaceutical Ltd.

11/10/2022 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 11/09/2022 19:02

Kintor Pharma Announces Oral Presentation at ASH 2022 Highlighting the Data from Novel Dual c-Myc/GSPT1 Degrader GT19715

Suzhou, November 10, 2022 - Kintor Pharmaceutical Limited ("Kintor Pharma", HKEX: 9939), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing innovative small molecules and biological therapeutics, announced that the results from the novel dual c-Myc/GSPT1 degrader GT19715 have been selected for oral presentation at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology 2022 (ASH 2022), and the abstract is available on ASH's official website.

The ASH annual meeting is the largest conference worldwide of hematology, bringing together basic, translational and clinical researchers in hematology. ASH 2022 will be held from Saturday, December 10, to Tuesday, December 13, 2022, in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The oncoprotein c-Myc is dysregulated in 70% of all human cancers, mostly with amplified expression levels and enhanced activities to promote progression of cancers and leukemias. Rearrangements of MYC are best known in the translocation in Burkitt's lymphomas, however, increased expression levels are also observed in acute myeloid leukemias (AML), including those with TP53 mutations or venetoclax (ven) resistance, both of which have devastating clinical outcomes despite recent advances in AML therapies.

The senior author Michael Andreeff, M.D., Ph.D., professor of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, together with his team and Kintor Pharma, evaluated preclinical activities of the first-in-class c-Myc protein degrader GT19715 in therapy resistant AML models.

Utilizing single cell mass cytometry, researchers found increased c-Myc protein levels in immature CD34+ AML cells compared to normal bone marrow CD34+ cells. GT19715 demonstrated promising anti-leukemia efficacy in patient-derived AML cells with TP53 mutations, especially in immature CD34+ fractions; and treatment of GT19715 in mice eradicated lymphoma and leukemia cells in Daudi Burkitt's lymphoma and Venetoclax-resistant AML models. Presentation will include updates and results will be presented by the first author Yuki Nishida, M.D., Ph.D. on Dec 10, 2022.

"We are really thrilled to present the data of encouraging preclinical activities of the first degrader of MYC proteins especially in MYC-driven leukemias and lymphomas at ASH this year. MYC governs various oncogenic programs for cancer initiation and progression and has long been one of the "undruggable" targets in cancer therapy despite numerous attempts to target MYC or its pathways. Actually, we reported MYC inhibition by p53 reactivation at the ASH last year, but now we have the first compound that successfully degrades MYC itself, demonstrating very promising early activity, which should also be applicable to other MYC-driven malignancies." Dr. Andreeff commented.

Dr. Youzhi Tong, founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Kintor Pharma, commented, "We are very excited that the results of the novel dual c-Myc/GSPT1 degrader GT19715 were selected for oral presentation at the ASH annual meeting, which indicates the international hematology community's recognition of GT19715's therapeutic potential. We will accelerate the progress of GT19715 into the clinical stage and hope to bring more innovative treatment options for patients with unmet needs."

The abstract of GT19715 presented at the ASH 2022 is as follows:

Abstract Title: C-MYC Targeting by Degradation: Novel Dual c-Myc/GSPT1 Degrader GT19715 Induces TP53-independent Cell Death in Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Lymphomas

Format: Oral Presentation

Abstract Number: 199

Session: 604. Molecular Pharmacology and Drug Resistance: Myeloid Neoplasms: Targeted Protein Degradation and Emerging Small Molecule Inhibitors in Myeloid Neoplasms

Time: Saturday, December 10, 2022: 2:00 PM

Abstract Link:https://ash.confex.com/ash/2022/webprogram/Paper164968.html