Collaboration to Accelerate Glioma Therapeutic through Preclinical Stage

UK-based biopharmaceutical company PhoreMost and Sentinel Oncology have expanded their collaboration to accelerate the progression of SOL686, a novel allosteric Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) inhibitor through preclinical development and IND enabling studies for the treatment of Glioma.

The PLK1 inhibitor takes the novel approach of targeting the Polo-box domain (PBD) of the PLKs, thereby aiming to mitigate adverse events seen by active site inhibitors.

Originating from the laboratory of Prof Ashok Venkitaraman at the University of Cambridge, the programme has demonstrated a promising combination of specific drug-like properties, mode of action and target validation data obtained so far. Both companies received funding from Innovate UK for the drug discovery programme.

Dr Chris Torrance, CEO of PhoreMost, said: “We are delighted to deepen our long-standing association with Sentinel Oncology and excited to be progressing this drug discovery programme towards the clinic. This lead compound exemplifies the value of PhoreMost’s strategy to use functional protein-protein interactions to drive the development of novel therapies.”

Robert Boyle, CEO of Sentinel Oncology, commented: “We are very excited about the prospects for this programme, and to be collaborating with PhoreMost to advance our allosteric PLK1 inhibitor. The programme adds to our NeuroOncology pipeline, has started formal preclinical studies and is well positioned to enter clinical development as a glioma treatment by 2021.”