Specialist cancer drug discovery and development business Sareum Holdings noted on Thursday that Sierra Oncology - the licence holder advancing clinical cancer candidate SRA737 - announced yesterday that it will present preclinical data demonstrating that its Chk1 inhibitor SRA737 synergises with niraparib - a poly ADP-ribose (PARP) inhibitor - in a poster at the American Association of Cancer Research annual meeting 2018 being held in Chicago from 14-18 April.
The AIM-traded firm explained that PARP inhibitors prevent the repair of DNA damage, and are developed as treatments for cancer and other indications.

It said niraparib is an orally-active small molecule PARP inhibitor approved in the US to treat ovarian cancer.

Sierra Oncology holds exclusive and worldwide rights for the Chk1 inhibitor, SRA737, having licensed the programme from Sareum's co-investment partner, the CRT Pioneer Fund in September 2016.

"We are pleased to note this positive development from preclinical studies exploring the combination of SRA737 with the PARP inhibitor niraparib," said chief executive Dr Tim Mitchell.

"Combining these two modalities to induce synthetic lethality in cancer cells is a compelling proposition and we look forward to further data and details of a potential clinical development programme during the year."

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