MEI Pharma, Inc a pharmaceutical company focused on leveraging its extensive development and oncology expertise to identify and advance new therapies for cancer.
Announced that data presented at ASCO 2018 from a Phase 1b study of ME-401 demonstrate a 90% objective response rate in patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma (FL), chronic lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL) and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL).
Based on the data in this program, MEI anticipates progressing into a single-agent registration study later in 2018 for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma. ME-401 is a next-generation selective oral inhibitor of PI3K delta.
“The clinical evidence we are accumulating from the Phase 1b study of ME-401 is very promising; the data demonstrate a 90% response rate across all patients with relapsed or refractory FL, CLL and SL, and an 86% rate in patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma,” said Daniel P. Gold, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of MEI Pharma. “There continues to be a need for effective treatment options among patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma. We therefore anticipate moving into a single-agent registration study by the end of the year”
The ME-401 ASCO 2018 poster can be accessed on the MEI Pharma website.
About ME-401
ME-401 is a next generation selective oral inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (“PI3K”) delta. PI3K delta is often overexpressed in cancer cells and plays a key role in the proliferation and survival of hematologic cancer cells. ME-401 displays high selectivity for the PI3K delta isoform and is in a chemical class that is distinct from other PI3K delta inhibitors with a differentiated pharmaceutical profile including: long on target residence time, preferential cellular accumulation, large volume of distribution, and a 28-hour half-life suitable for once daily oral administration.
The pharmaceutical properties and clinical data generated to date for ME-401 support its potential as a single-agent therapy and the potential to be used in combination with existing or emerging therapies to treat multiple difficult-to-treat oncology indications.
About MEI Pharma
MEI Pharma, Inc is a San Diego-based pharmaceutical company focused on leveraging its extensive development and oncology expertise to identify and advance new therapies for cancer. The Company’s portfolio of drug candidates includes pracinostat, an oral HDAC inhibitor that is partnered with Helsinn Healthcare, SA. Pracinostat has been granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in combination with azacitidine for the treatment of patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who are unfit for intensive chemotherapy. Pracinostat is also being developed in combination with azacitidine for the treatment of patients with high and very high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) (NCT03151304).
MEI Pharma’s clinical development pipeline also includes ME-401, a highly differentiated oral PI3K delta inhibitor currently in a Phase 1b study in patients with relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma or CLL, and voruciclib, an oral, selective CDK inhibitor shown to suppress MCL1, a known mechanism of resistance to BCL2 inhibitors. The Company is also developing ME-344, a novel mitochondrial inhibitor currently in an investigator-sponsored study in combination with bevacizumab evaluating patients with HER2-negative breast cancer. Pracinostat, ME-401, ME-344 and voruciclib are investigational agents and are not approved for use in the U.S. For more information, please visit www.meipharma.com.
