TIDMSAR
RNS Number : 7001K
Sareum Holdings PLC
18 December 2018
(AIM: SAR) 18 December 2018
Sareum Holdings plc
("Sareum" or "the Company")
AGM Statement
Sareum Holdings plc (AIM: SAR), the specialist small molecule
drug development business, will be holding its Annual General
Meeting today, at 10:00 at the offices of Citigate Dewe Rogerson, 3
London Wall Buildings, London Wall, London EC2M 5SY. The Chairman,
Dr Stephen Parker will make the following statement:
"The Board is pleased to report on another year of substantial
progress for Sareum. Our active development portfolio now comprises
three compounds targeting important kinases in diseases for which
there remain significant levels of unmet medical need: SRA737
(out-licensed to Sierra Oncology), SDC-1801 and SDC-1802. We have
recruited two new Non-Executive Directors, Michael Owen, Ph.D and
Clive Birch, each of whom has exceptional experience of direct
relevance to your Company as it moves forward. These appointments
have allowed us to create Nominations & Governance, Audit &
Risk and Remuneration Committees, which further enhances our
corporate governance, in accordance with the QCA guidelines.
During the year and thereafter, our partner for SRA737, Sierra
Oncology ("Sierra"), continued to make good progress, refining the
trials as new data emerged and prioritising development on
high-grade serous ovarian cancer ("HGSOC"). Sierra presented
preclinical data showing efficacy of SRA737 monotherapy in in vivo
models of human ovarian cancer at a recent cancer congress, where
it also confirmed that HGSOC appears an attractive disease target
for combination therapy approaches. This reprioritising and
enlarging of the ongoing Phase 1/2 studies has meant that the
publication of clinical trial data is now expected to take place in
mid-2019, with Sierra suggesting that these data will be submitted
for presentation at the ASCO annual conference at the end of
May/early June.
Patients in the SRA737 monotherapy trial are currently being
dosed in 15 cancer centres in the UK; completion is estimated to be
in April 2020. The current combination trial with SRA737 and
low-dose gemcitabine is active in six centres in Spain and a
further 14 in the UK, and is currently estimated to complete in
June 2020. We also await the commencement of a combination study of
SRA737 with niraparib, a PARP inhibitor, in metastatic
castration-resistant prostate cancer("mCRPC"), and we note with
interest the recent data presented by Sierra showing effective
synergy when SRA737 is combined with cancer immunotherapy in models
of small cell lung cancer, a disease for which cancer immunotherapy
has had limited efficacy.
The focus on our TYK2 programme in 2018 was rewarded with the
selection of two distinct compounds, SDC-1801 for auto-immune
diseases and SDC-1802 for cancer indications, both TYK2/JAK1
inhibitors. We have commenced formal preclinical programmes for
each compound with a view to entering the clinic in each of the
indications in 2020. Additional research is ongoing to refine the
clinical plans. In the meantime, the data arising from some of the
work leading to the compound selection are being prepared for
submission to a peer-reviewed publication and a conference
presentation.
In line with our business model, the Company continues to engage
with potential partners with a view to securing commercial licences
for its products and programmes, including seeing early interest in
the Aurora/FLT3 programme, into which we have discontinued further
investment while we find a licence partner.
In addition, Sareum is exploring new research programmes from
its in-house drug discovery platform, as well as external early
stage opportunities that can be potentially in-licensed and
progressed into the clinic.
The Company ended its fiscal year 2017/2018 with a loss after
taxation of GBP1.470 million and cash of GBP1.375 million. We
continue to manage cash carefully and in October, the Company
raised a further GBP850,000 in a placing. This has further
strengthened the working capital position, whilst we assess the
long-term capital requirements for maximising the value of the TYK2
assets and the Company.
As mentioned earlier, we are delighted to welcome Dr Mike Owen
and Mr Clive Birch to the Sareum Board. We are aware that the
climate and requirements for relevant and firm governance is ever
increasing and Mike and Clive's careers speak to their ability to
ensure that we continue to run your Company appropriately and
optimally. Mike's experience as head of biopharmaceutical research
at GSK will be especially valuable as we select the target
indications for SDC-1801 and SDC-1802.
The Board of Directors believes that 2018 has consolidated the
progress and increasing maturity reported last year. I would like
to thank our shareholders, collaboration partners, suppliers,
contractors and other stakeholders for their continued support and
look forward to providing further updates on progress in 2019."
For further information, please contact:
Sareum Holdings plc
Tim Mitchell 01223 497 700
WH Ireland Limited (Nominated Adviser)
Chris Fielding / James Sinclair-Ford 020 7220 1666
Hybridan LLP (Nominated Broker)
Claire Noyce 020 3764 2341
Citigate Dewe Rogerson (Media enquiries)
Shabnam Bashir/ Mark Swallow/ David
Dible 020 7638 9571
Notes for editors:
Sareum is a specialist drug development company delivering
targeted small molecule therapeutics, to improve the treatment of
cancer and autoimmune disease. The Company generates value through
licensing its candidates to international pharmaceutical and
biotechnology companies at the preclinical or early clinical trials
stage.
Sareum's leading clinical-stage programme, SRA737, a novel
Checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1) inhibitor licensed to NASDAQ-listed
Sierra Oncology, is in Phase 2 clinical trials targeting ovarian
and other advanced cancers. The key role of Chk1 in cancer cell
replication and DNA damage repair suggests that SRA737 may have
broad application as a targeted therapy in combination with other
oncology and immune-oncology drugs in genetically defined
patients.
Sareum is also advancing internal programmes focused on distinct
dual tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) /Janus kinase 1 (JAK1) inhibitors
through preclinical development as therapies for autoimmune
diseases and cancers. TYK2 and JAK1 have roles in pro-inflammatory
responses in autoimmune diseases (e.g. psoriasis, rheumatoid
arthritis, inflammatory bowel diseases and lupus) and tumour cell
proliferation in certain cancers (e.g. T-cell acute lymphoblastic
leukaemia and some solid tumours). The Company is targeting first
human clinical trials in each indication in 2020.
The Company also has an Aurora+FLT3 inhibitor targeting
haematological cancers, which is at the preclinical development
stage.
Sareum Holdings plc is listed on the AIM market of the London
Stock Exchange, trading under the ticker SAR. For further
information, please visit www.sareum.co.uk
- Ends -
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END
AGMFKODNDBDDPBD
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