The new compound AOP208, initially developed by Leukos Biotech, a spin-off of the Josep Carreras Leukemia Research Institute, both members of CATALONIA.HEALTH, has been tested for the first time in patients in the SERONCO-1 phase 1 clinical trial, to assess their safety in patients with advanced solid tumors that is being carried out at the UITM-CaixaResearch Molecular Cancer Therapy Research Unit of the Vall de Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO). The drug blocks a particular conformation of the serotonin 1b receptor in the membrane of cancer stem cells, which controls metabolic pathways whose blocking can be fundamental to treating the cause of the disease's root.
In addition, the drug is being evaluated in clinical phases in international collaboration with the Austrian pharmaceutical company AOP Health. In 2022, Leukos and AOP concluded a license and collaboration agreement to facilitate the development of the product for the benefit of leukemia patients and other tumors on a global scale.
Ruth Risueño, scientific director of Leukos Biotech, explains: “Our work at the Josep Carreras Leukemia Research Institute showed that the serotonin 1b receptor is key to this process in leukemia stem cells. Since there was no suitable molecule that could block the receptor, from Leukos we implemented a chemical development program that allowed us to reach the AOP208 molecule. Now we are delighted to start a clinical trial and take our compound to the next level for the benefit of leukemia patients and some solid tumors.”
The SERONCO-1 trial is the first essay of the global program. In addition, it is being carried out in collaboration with Leukos Biotech with partial funding from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the RETOS Public-Private Collaboration Program. Thanks to the information on safety and active doses expected to be obtained from the SERONCO-1 trial in patients with advanced solid tumors, AOP Health will carry out a second clinical trial on AOP208 in patients with acute myeloid leukemia, a cancer that currently has a discouraging prognosis.
Photo: Ruth Risueño in one of her speeches at the Lessons Learned session "From drug discovery to first-in-humans" (12/06/2023)
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