• CCS1477 is the first drug to be used in patients that specifically targets p300/CBP, offering a new route to treat specific drug-resistant cancers
• Trial in late stage prostate cancer well underway across multiple clin­i­cal centres, under the leadership of Johann de Bono of The Royal Marsden Hospital, The Institute of Cancer Research, London
• Dosing in patients with haematological malig­nan­cies has now begun, starting at the Christie Hospital, Manchester

{{image}}Cambridge, United Kingdom (Press Release) – CellCentric has ex­panded the clin­i­cal devel­op­ment pro­gramme of its novel anti-cancer drug CCS1477, a highly potent and specific small molecule inhibitor of p300/CBP. Dosing has commenced in a new study involving patients with multiple myeloma and will in­clude those with acute myeloid leukaemia and cer­tain lym­phomas. Trials are already underway for patients with late stage drug resistant prostate cancer.

Dr Nigel Brooks, CellCentric’s Director of Translational Science, commented: “Inhibiting p300/CBP is of growing interest to researchers. We are delighted to now be testing our first-in-class inhibitor in patients with dif­fer­en­t blood cancers. CCS1477 has the poten­tial to be a major new drug to treat patients whose dis­ease has re­lapsed, and have tumours that are resistant to current treat­ments.”

Inhibiting the twin gene regulator proteins p300/CBP disrupts the drivers of late stage prostate cancer, as well as the resistance mech­a­nisms to existing anti-cancer drugs, such as abiraterone and enza­lut­amide. CCS1477 is aimed for use after, or in com­bi­na­tion with these drugs, to address a major unmet need for patients with meta­static dis­ease.

P300/CBP inhibition also impacts the IRF4-Myc path­way, which has been proven to have a sig­nif­i­cant effect on cer­tain blood cancers in multiple pre-clinical models. CCS1477 is now being eval­u­ated for its effectiveness against late stage multiple myeloma (MM), acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), and non-Hodgkin lym­phoma (NHL). The lead Chief In­ves­ti­ga­tor for the blood cancer pro­gramme is Prof Andy Davies, University Hospital Southampton.

CCS1477 binds highly selectively into the conserved bromodomain pocket of both proteins. Other ways of targeting p300/CBP are being in­ves­ti­gated, such as binding to the catalytic acetyltransferase site. CellCentric’s ap­proach appears to de­liver a pos­i­tive anti-tumour pos­i­tive mech­a­nism of action whilst minimising the range of other path­ways effected.

CellCentric originally was formed from the Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge with one of the pioneers of epigenetics and gene reg­u­la­tion, Azim Surani CBE FRS. The com­pany eval­u­ated over 50 poten­tial epigenetic-related drug targets, before focusing on p300/CBP and the devel­op­ment of CCS1477.

Dr Will West, CellCentric’s CEO, commented: “CellCentric was a pioneer in the area of epigenetics. It is really fulfilling to now see our science translated for patients with dif­fer­en­t types of cancer, whose tumours that are not re­spon­sive­ to existing treat­ments. Our strong science base, coupled with a highly ex­peri­enced discovery and devel­op­ment team, have been key.”

About CellCentric

CellCentric is a bio­technology com­pany focused on a first-in-class p300/CBP bromodomain inhibitor drug, CCS1477. The com­pany has in­ves­ti­gated over 50 poten­tial epigenetic-related drug targets, before focusing on the twin histone acetyl transferases p300/CBP. An earlier pro­gramme, based on an arginine methyltransferase target, was licenced to Takeda Pharma­ceu­ticals. CCS1477 has relevance to multiple cancer types, and notably for late-stage, castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) as well as haematological cancers (AML, multiple myeloma, lym­phoma).

CellCentric is a privately held business, with Morningside Venture Investments as its lead in­vestor. CCS1477’s progress has also benefited from awards from Innovate UK (BioMedical Catalyst) and the Prostate Cancer Foundation. The com­pany main­tains active col­lab­o­rations with multiple research centres in Europe and the US.

Source: CellCentric.