Collaborative Aims To Advance Novel Glioma Therapeutic

PhoreMost, a UK-based biopharmaceutical company which aims to drug ‘undruggable’ disease targets, and Sentinel Oncology, have announced an expansion of 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.

Mitotic PLKs are widely recognized as playing crucial roles in disease-causing pathways, including K-Ras mutant cancers. Traditional approaches to drugging PLK enzymes have focused on targeting their active site; however, this tactic has been hindered by toxicity-associated adverse events. Sentinel Oncology’s allosteric 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.

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