CStone enrolls first patient in Phase I study for MEK inhibitor CS3006 in Australia

SUZHOU, China, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- CStone Pharmaceuticals (CStone) today announced the initiation of a Phase I clinical trial in Australia for CS3006, a highly selective, proprietary small molecule inhibitor of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MEK). The first patient enrolled in the study has been dosed at the Linear Clinical Research Center in Australia.

"MEK inhibition represents an important emerging therapeutic strategy for certain cancers. We are very pleased to announce the first patient dosing in this Phase I study," said Dr. Frank Jiang, CStone's Chief Executive Officer at CStone, "We are confident that CS3006 has the potential to offer advantages over existing MEK inhibitors available on the market."

CS3006 is CStone's third independently developed pipeline candidate to enter the first-in-human clinical trial in Australia, after the programmed death-1 (PD-1) inhibitor CS1003 and the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein-4 (CTLA-4) inhibitor CS1002. These trials will lay a solid foundation for CStone to explore the effectiveness of these drug candidates both as monotherapy and combination therapies in China and globally.

Dr. Jason Yang, Chief Medical Officer at CStone, commented: "CS3006 is a highly selective MEK inhibitor. CS3006 demonstrated superior anti-tumor efficacy to the leading marketed MEK inhibitor in preclinical in vitro and in vivo studies, and the potential to combine with CStone's immuno-oncology pipeline products. This study comprises of a dose escalation phase and an expansion phase that will determine the appropriate dosage for CS3006 in patients with solid tumors."

More information on the Phase I study for CS3006 can be found here.

About the MEK pathway

The RAS-RAF-MEK-ERK signal transduction pathway is among the most fundamental intracellular signaling pathways found in the majority of cells and is responsible for regulating key cellular activities such as cell growth, proliferation, survival, and apoptosis. MEK1 and MEK2 are serine/threonine protein kinases that act downstream of RAS and RAF to activate ERK. The inhibition of MEK can affect tumor cell survival, proliferation, and differentiation. Currently, two MEK inhibitors have been approved and marketed globally: Novartis's MEKINIST^® (trametinib) and Roche's COTELLIC^® (cobimetinib).

 About CStone Pharmaceuticals

CStone Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company devoted to the development of innovative drugs. With a broad oncology pipeline, the company is focused on the development of immuno-oncology based combination therapies. All members of the management team are seasoned executives from top multinational pharmaceutical companies. CStone has successfully built up an industry leading team with clinical development and translational medicine as its core competence. CStone has gained the backing of prestigious VC/PE funds in two financing rounds to date, raising $150 million in a Series A round in July 2016, followed by $260 million in a Series B round in May 2018. With an experienced team, a rich pipeline, a robust R&D model, and substantial funding, CStone is well positioned as the partner of choice for multinational pharmaceutical and biotech companies to develop drugs in China and the Asia-Pacific region.

For more information about CStone Pharmaceuticals, please visit: www.cstonepharma.com

SOURCE CStone Pharmaceuticals