Sprint Bioscience

The results of the study, conducted in an animal model of malignant melanoma, show that the combination of the company's VPS34 inhibitor and a STING agonist provides a clear reduction in tumor growth and a significantly improved survival. The article contributes a deeper mechanistic understanding of how STING signaling is activated by VPS34 inhibition, which is an important piece of the puzzle in the development of new combination therapies.

Cancer cells have built-in defense mechanisms that suppress the immune system. In a previous publication, Sprint Bioscience showed that inhibition of VPS34 can enhance the effect of treatment with immune-activating checkpoint inhibitors, and data in the new article show that another class of immuno-oncology drugs, STING agonists, also are potentiated by VPS34 inhibition.

"The effect we see in the STING combination shows that there is good potential to combine with several immunotherapies. There is a huge unmet medical need, so we are very excited about this data and proud to have it published in such a respected scientific journal. The program was previously licensed to our partner Deciphera, and has now been handed back to us. We are currently planning the next apropriate steps for the program" says Martin Andersson, CSO at Sprint Bioscience.

The article is a collaboration between the Luxembourg Institute of Health, Karolinska Institutet, Deciphera Pharmaceuticals and Sprint Bioscience.

Link to the article