OncoArendi Therapeutics recently announced that it has selected OATD‑02 as its clinical development candidate for cancer immunotherapy.
OATD-02 is a highly potent and selective small molecule inhibitor of two arginase isoforms (Arg-1 and Arg-2) in both biochemical and cell-based-assays and second arginase inhibitor to enter development.
It has been shown to be effective in vivo in three different mouse models of cancer (colorectal, lung and melanoma) and demonstrated superior antitumor efficacy in combinations with the PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor and with gemcitabine; resulting in a controlled tumor growth, and, in some cases in a full regression.
Marcin Szumowski, PhD, CEO of OncoArendi said, “We believe that small molecule drugs preventing cancer cells from escaping from the immune surveillance have great potential in combination therapies and to be transformational medicines in the treatment of many types of cancer. The increasing number of clinical trials with multiple IDO inhibitors and various check-point inhibitor combinations additionally validate this approach.”
“At OncoArendi, we are dedicated to research and development of the first-in-class or best-in-class small molecule-based therapies that in combination with other modalities, could significantly improve the treatment of unmet medical needs in many solid and hematopoietic cancers. We are particularly excited about the potential of arginase as an additional new target in cancer immunotherapy and the potential of OATD-02 to become the best-in-class arginase inhibitor on the market. This compound demonstrated a potent extracellular and cellular activity while its pharmacological profile makes it suitable for oral dosing.”, he added
