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For TransTech Pharma’s Hexokinase II Inhibitor Program
Calithera Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq:CALA), a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel small molecule drugs directed against tumor metabolism and tumor immunology targets for the treatment of cancer, announced today an exclusive global license agreement with TransTech Pharma, a clinical stage pharmaceutical company, granting Calithera exclusive world-wide rights to research, develop and commercialize TransTech’s portfolio of hexokinase II inhibitors.
Hexokinase II is the first and rate-limiting enzyme in the pathway that enables cancer cells to convert glucose to energy and building blocks that feed cancer cell growth. Under the terms of the agreement, Calithera will obtain exclusive, worldwide rights to TransTech’s hexokinase II inhibitors for research, development and commercialization. TransTech will receive an upfront payment and will be eligible to receive future development and commercialization milestones as well as royalties on sales of approved products.
“TransTech’s hexokinase II inhibitor program will further expand Calithera’s portfolio of pre-clinical programs and solidify our leadership in the area of tumor metabolism drug research and development as we are now able to target two essential nutrients that cancer cells rely on for growth and survival: glutamine and glucose,” said Susan M. Molineaux, CEO, Calithera Biosciences. “We believe we can apply our expertise to rapidly advance TransTech’s potent small-molecule hexokinase II inhibitors into the clinic to become our third potential first-in-class therapy for cancer patients.”
About Tumor Metabolism and Hexokinase II Inhibitors:
The field of tumor metabolism seeks to exploit the unique ways in which cancer cells take up and utilize nutrients in order to grow and proliferate. Cancer cells have altered cellular metabolic pathways to acquire and utilize these nutrients and redirect them to provide the necessary building blocks for growth. When these metabolic pathways are blocked, cancer cells are essentially starved of critical nutrients and stop growing or die, whereas normal cells are largely unaffected.
Most cancer cells have increased uptake of the sugar glucose relative to surrounding normal cells. This phenomenon forms the basis for the widely used tumor imaging procedure known as 18F-2-deoxyglucose (FDG)/PET. Tumors take up more FDG, a radioactive glucose analog, than the surrounding normal tissue and this differential can be visualized with PET imaging. Not only do tumors take up more glucose, but they also utilize the nutrient in a unique way. Tumors convert glucose into lactic acid in a process known as aerobic glycolysis or the “Warburg effect”, a route rarely utilized in normal cells. This unique uptake and processing of glucose by tumors relative to normal tissue creates an opportunity to selectively target tumors by cutting off their ability to use this fuel.
In many cancers, hexokinase II is over expressed and has been linked to more aggressive and invasive tumors. Pre-clinical studies in mice have confirmed that the reduction of hexokinase II activity through genetic deactivation (siRNA knockdown studies) results in a significant reduction of tumor growth. The hexokinase inhibitors in-licensed from TransTech may provide an opportunity to inhibit the unique way cancer cells utilize glucose, and the overall Warburg effect, which could result in new treatments for cancer.
About Calithera Biosciences:
Calithera Biosciences, Inc. is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel small molecule drugs directed against tumor metabolism and tumor immunology targets for the treatment of cancer. Calithera’s lead product candidate, CB-839, an orally bioavailable inhibitor of glutaminase, is currently being evaluated in three Phase 1 clinical trials in solid and hematological cancers.
