The R&D Day was led by Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs)
Invited KOLs shared their latest insights on plinabulin’s durable anti-cancer benefit, mechanism-of-action (MOA), and its unique potential as an I/O combination agent with chemotherapy or radiation, in patients that have progressed on PD-1/PD-L1 therapy. Over time, plinabulin may have the potential to move into earlier lines of treatment in combination with I/O:
- As a unique tubulin binder, plinabulin drives dendritic cell (DC) maturation/T-cell activation by effectively liberating the immune defense protein GEF-H1 from microtubules.
- Plinabulin alone or in combination has been well-tolerated in >700 cancer patients in two positive phase 3 studies.
- In a phase 3 study with EGFR wild-type 2L/3L NSCLC, the combination of plinabulin and docetaxel significantly extended OS in all subgroup analyses and doubled 2-year and 3-year OS rates compared to docetaxel alone.
- In an MD Anderson phase 1 study, in combination with radiotherapy and a PD-1 inhibitor, plinabulin demonstrated its DC maturation MOA in responding patients (PR+SD) in multiple cancers that had progressed during PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor therapy with >50% disease control rate (PR+SD). The most responding cancers include NSCLC, HNSCC and Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
- PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors have been approved in approximately 20 cancer indications with >
$40 billion annual sales, and yet around 60% of patients eventually fail, leaving them with limited treatment options.- Plinabulin’s potent DC maturation effect, in combination with PD-1/PD-L1 and radiation or chemotherapy, may address unmet medical needs across numerous patient settings following progression from PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor therapy.
- Plinabulin has the potential to fill a substantial gap in cancer treatment for precisely the same patient settings that have been found elusive to other mechanisms or combinations.
“Additionally, significant headway is being made through various Investigator-Initiated Trial (IIT) studies of plinabulin at leading institutions in the
Following the plinabulin presentations, Dr.
- Differentiated from other molecular glue companies, which are mainly “E3 centric”, SEED’s RITE3 platform is “target centric” and uses novel E3 ligases for protein targets. With detectable weak basal interaction between selected E3 and protein target, the binder hit rates from its high throughput screening is higher.
- 6 internal pipeline assets and 2 partnered assets, in oncology, neurodegeneration, immunology, and virology used 5 novel E3 ligases.
- SEED expects to file an IND in early 2025 for its IND Candidate oral RBM39 degrader, for the treatment of rationally selected cancer indications.
- SEED R&D has a focus on the development of orally delivered molecular glues for CNS indications, with a lead internal program against Tau.
Eli Lilly is a current investor and R&D collaborator with upfront and milestone payments up to
“I'm delighted to announce SEED's substantial progress in advancing internal initiatives, including an oncology asset advancing towards first human dose in the first half of 2025, Tau degraders for neurodegeneration advancing towards lead molecule status towards the end of 2024. In addition, we have a synergistic collaboration with Eli Lilly, which achieved multiple milestone payments. In the recent “Nature Biotechnology” review article on molecular glues, it was truly a privilege for SEED Therapeutics to be recognized alongside other prominent companies employing groundbreaking TPD molecular glue strategies. Leveraging our unique and proprietary RITE3 platform that focuses on predicting, detecting, and utilizing a pre-existing weak interaction between an E3 ligase and the target disease-causing protein, SEED consistently garners growing interest for additional partnerships and investment,” said Dr.
An archived replay of the webinar will be available on BeyondSpring’s website www.beyondspringpharma.com under “Events and Presentations” in the Investors section.
About
About SEED Therapeutics
SEED Therapeutics is an innovative biotech company focusing on harnessing and engineering “molecular glues” and targeted protein degradation (TPD) to attack previously undruggable targets. Backed by a comprehensive intellectual property portfolio, SEED Therapeutics' mission is to positively impact human health by creating novel protein degradation therapeutics to treat various severe diseases that currently have limited treatment options for patients and their families. Through ongoing collaborations with world-leading academic experts in the field, SEED Therapeutics is developing a growing pipeline of novel drug candidates on a path to potential clinical and commercial success. SEED has an initial R&D collaboration and investment from Eli Lilly and Company. Learn more by visiting https://seedtherapeutics.com/.
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