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Step Pharma, which works on CTPS1 inhibition for the targeted treatment of cancer, and Concr, a techbio company with a statistical learning-powered biomarker prediction engine, have entered a partnership to identify biomarkers to improve therapeutic response to inhibitors of cytidine triphosphate synthase 1 (CTPS1), an enzyme to which all cancers appear to be addicted.
Concr’s proprietary data modeling will be used to identify biomarkers for Step Pharma’s cancer drug assets, which includes its first-in-class, highly selective, orally bioavailable CTPS1 inhibitor, STP938, by effectively integrating diverse experimental data with patient and tumor-centric datasets.
Concr adopts cosmology methods to effectively combine diverse data types into a single holistic tumor model. The biological insights generated will be utilized by Step Pharma in its pre-clinical and clinical development programs, with the overall aim of improving patient response and outcomes.
Andrew Parker, CEO of Step Pharma, said: “We are committed to bringing our targeted treatments, including STP938, to patients as fast as possible. To this end, we are excited to partner with Concr and employ its integrated analysis of complex datasets to explore the potential to accelerate the development of our targeted cancer therapy assets and maximize their utility. Our collaboration with Concr is aimed at deepening our understanding of CTPS1 biology and identifying patients most likely to respond to CTPS1 inhibition.”
Matt Foster, CEO of Concr, added: “There is a significant need for novel targeted therapies across a range of cancer types. However, only with successful application of biomarkers can such cutting edge therapeutic developments be optimally applied in a clinical setting. Concr is excited to be enabling this to happen with Step Pharma – utilizing our approach to ensure inhibitors of CTPS1 have the greatest chance of translational success by being applied to patients who will truly benefit.”
Step Pharma recently entered clinical development with its first in class CTPS1 inhibitor STP938 in a phase I/II trial for T cell and B cell lymphomas and is the latest company to utilize the potential of data and predictive modeling for translational research.
By inhibiting the enzyme CTPS1, Step Pharma can selectively target the de novo pyrimidine synthesis pathway in cancer cells, enabling highly selective treatment of both blood cancers and solid tumors.
Concr’s existing partnerships are investigating biomarkers of response in multiple cancer types, including breast cancer and cancer of unknown primary.