Preclinical Data on Volastra Therapeutics’ Two Novel and Differentiated KIF18A Inhibitors Presented at AACR 2023

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Volastra Therapeutics, a clinical-stage cancer biotechnology company focused on exploiting chromosomal instability (CIN), today released preclinical data from the company’s portfolio of KIF18A inhibitors at the 2023 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in Orlando.

Volastra’s KIF18A portfolio consists of two clinical-stage highly differentiated, novel, first-in-class KIF18A inhibitors: recently in-licensed sovilnesib (formally AMG650) and internally-developed VLS-1488. Each will have poster presentations at the meeting.

“We are proud to have side-by-side posters on our two groundbreaking KIF18A inhibitors at AACR,” said Charles Hugh-Jones, M.D., FRCP, Chief Executive Officer at Volastra. “KIF18A is an exciting and novel target in oncology, and we see huge potential benefits for patients with our two drugs, each having distinct molecular properties.”

Sovilnesib findings, presented in a poster entitled “Discovery and preclinical characterization of AMG650, a first-in-class inhibitor of kinesin KIF18A motor protein with potent activity against chromosomally unstable cancers” (#516), demonstrate robust anti-cancer activity with evidence of durable tumor regressions in a subset of human ovarian and breast tumor models at well-tolerated doses. Also promising is in vivo combination data, which show enhanced anti-cancer activity of sovilnesib combined with PARP inhibitor olaparib as compared to olaparib alone.

Findings for one of Volastra’s internally-developed KIF18A inhibitors are shown in a second poster, entitled “Targeting chromosomally unstable tumors with a selective KIF18A inhibitor” (#517). In this, in vivo data shows substantial, dose-dependent inhibition of tumor growth in multiple tumor models. Notably, KIF18A inhibition alters mitotic progression in chromosomally unstable cells but does not impact growth of chromosomally stable or normal cell types, differentiating it from other clinical anti-mitotic agents.

Volastra will advance clinical development of both sovilnesib and the Volastra-developed KIF18A inhibitor VLS-1488 in 2023.

About Volastra Therapeutics

Volastra Therapeutics is a New York-based clinical-stage drug discovery company pioneering novel approaches to treating cancer by exploiting a unique tumor vulnerability known as chromosomal instability (CIN). Founded by Lewis Cantley, Ph.D., Samuel Bakhoum, M.D., Ph.D., and Olivier Elemento, Ph.D., Volastra is rapidly developing and implementing new methods to exploit this vulnerability. Leveraging its proprietary CINtech platform, the company is advancing a novel synthetic lethal and immune-activating pipeline through both discovery and clinical stages to support future patients with cancer. For more information, please visit volastratx.com.

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