Debiopharm, an oncology and infectious disease focused biopharmaceutical company based in Switzerland, today announced data releases on 3 investigational products including Debio 0123 (Selective WEE1 inhibitor), clinical exploratory results for xevinapant (IAP inhibitor), and 2 Multilink™ technology posters (antibody drug conjugate linker) at the 2022 Annual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. The AACR conference serves as the focal point of the cancer research community to gather together and share advances in oncology science. Debiopharm and their partners’ poster presentations represent scientific progress in the research of these compounds leveraging novel modes of action and new delivery methods in development to treat cancer types with high unmet needs.
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“Scientific cancer research is evolving quickly, bringing us the insights needed to better develop safer and more effective anti-tumor therapies. Our ultimate vision is to translate these findings into meaningful outcomes for patients in future clinical settings,” explained Carolina Haefliger, Head of Translational Medicine at Debiopharm.
About Debio 0123
Debio 0123 is an inhibitor of WEE1 kinase, a key regulator of the G2/M and S phase checkpoints, activated in response to DNA damage, allowing cells to repair their DNA before resuming their cell cycle. WEE1 inhibition, particularly in combination with DNA damaging agents, induces DNA breaks leading to the accumulation of DNA damage. In conjunction with abrogation of other checkpoints such as those of the G1 phase of the cell cycle, the compound pushes the cells through cycle without DNA repair, promoting mitotic catastrophe and inducing apoptosis of cancer cells.
About Multilink
Multilink™ is a new cleavable linker platform suited for multidrug attachment and compatible with any conjugation technology to produce ADCs with high DAR (drug-to-antibody ratio), allowing the loading of multiple payloads on an antibody for an enhanced therapeutic effect. This highly effective and well-tolerated linker platform is available for use of other specialty biotech or pharmaceutical companies to generate a proprietary, clinical-stage ADCs.
About xevinapant
Xevinapant, now exclusively licensed to Merck for product development and commercialization, is a potential first-in-class potent, oral, small-molecule inhibitor of IAPs (Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins). In preclinical studies, xevinapant restored sensitivity to apoptosis in cancer cells, thereby depriving them of one of their major resistance mechanisms to anticancer therapy. Currently in phase III clinical research, in a randomized, placebo-controlled phase II study, xevinapant has demonstrated preliminary evidence of efficacy in combination with chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in patients with high-risk locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (LA SCCHN), with a clinically significant and sustained clinical activity and an acceptable safety profile compared with CRT alone.