May 14 2015
Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in the development of RNAi therapeutics, today announced that new clinical data from a Phase 1 study of DCR-MYC in patients with solid tumors, multiple myeloma, or lymphoma will be presented at the 2015 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, which will be held May 29-June 2, 2015 in Chicago.
DCR-MYC is an investigational Dicer substrate short interfering RNA (DsiRNA) therapeutic targeting the MYC oncogene and the first MYC-targeting short interfering RNA (siRNA) to enter clinical trials. DCR-MYC is currently in two Phase 1 trials in patients with multiple tumor types.
The abstract (#11006), titled Safety and activity of DCR-MYC, a first-in-class Dicer substrate small interfering RNA (DsiRNA) targeting MYC, in a phase 1 study in patients with advanced solid tumors, will be presented during the Tumor Biology oral abstract session on June 1, 2015 at 5:00 p.m. CDT by Anthony W. Tolcher, M.D., FRCP(C), of South Texas Accelerated Research Therapeutics (START). Updated results from the ongoing study will be presented.
“We are pleased to be presenting initial Phase 1 data from our DCR-MYC program at the 2015 ASCO Annual Meeting,” said Pankaj Bhargava, M.D., chief medical officer of Dicerna. “In pre-clinical studies, DCR-MYC inhibited gene transcript activity and reduced tumor volume in multiple mouse tumor models. We look forward to discussing interim clinical data from our first DCR-MYC Phase 1 study that provide evidence of the compound’s safety, tolerability and initial clinical and metabolic activity in cancer patients.”
The data are from a Phase 1 dose-escalation study evaluating the safety, pharmacodynamics (PD), pharmacokinetics (PK), and clinical activity of DCR-MYC in patients with advanced solid tumors, multiple myeloma or lymphoma.
About DCR-MYC
DCR-MYC, Dicerna's investigational Dicer substrate siRNA (DsiRNA) therapeutic, is designed to silence the MYC oncogene. MYC is a key target in oncology because it is implicated in a large number of cancers. DCR-MYC contains MYC-targeted DsiRNA delivered via Dicerna’s EnCoreTM lipid nanoparticle (LNP) tumor delivery system. In preclinical research involving human tumors implanted in mice, and in mice that were genetically engineered to develop tumors, DCR-MYC substantially reduced the level of MYC expression and slowed or halted tumor progression. Dicerna is conducting a clinical trial program to explore the therapeutic activity of DCR-MYC across multiple tumor types. The Company has a Phase 1 clinical trial of DCR-MYC in patients with solid tumors, multiple myeloma or lymphoma, and a Phase 1b/2 trial in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
About RNAi
RNA interference (RNAi) is a biologic process in which certain double-stranded RNA molecules inhibit the expression of disease-causing genes by destroying the messenger RNAs (mRNAs) of those genes. It reflects a new approach in the development of specific and powerful therapies for genetic cancers and rare inherited diseases involving the liver. RNAi has the potential to treat these diseases through some of the most promising, yet previously inaccessible drug targets.
Traditional classes of drugs, small molecules and antibodies, have been used successfully for diseases with well-defined targets and proteins, encoded by disease-associated genes. However, both of those classes are limited by the nature of the targets they can inhibit. RNAi offers the potential to overcome these limitations. Rather than targeting and binding to proteins to inhibit their activity, RNAi exerts its effects one step earlier in the process by targeting the mRNA, the instruction set that directs the building of the protein. In this manner, RNAi can potentially attack any target. Potential targets include disease-causing genes that are expressed exclusively inside cells and which lack good small-molecule binding pockets, putting them beyond the reach of traditional antibody and small molecule technology.
About Dicer Substrate Technology
Dicerna’s innovative Dicer substrate short-interfering RNA (DsiRNA) technology platform fuels a pipeline of promising, precisely targeted therapies designed to overcome many of the challenges of earlier generations of RNAi therapeutics. Dicerna’s DsiRNA and DsiRNA-EX molecules are at the core of its therapeutic candidates. Each are chemically optimized double-stranded RNAs designed to potently induce RNAi. Dicerna has further developed the ideas behind DsiRNAs to create its DsiRNA-EX molecules, which carry additional benefits.
Dicerna's proprietary RNAi molecules are known as Dicer substrates because they are designed to be processed by the Dicer enzyme, which is the initiation point for RNAi in the human cell cytoplasm. Dicerna's discovery approach seeks to maximize RNAi potency through optimized structuring of DsiRNA for processing by Dicer. Dicer processing enables the preferential use of the correct RNA strand of the DsiRNA, which may increase the efficacy of the RNAi mechanism, as well as the potency of the DsiRNA molecules relative to other molecules used to induce RNAi. Dicerna’s DsiRNA Extended (DsiRNA-EX) molecules resemble DsiRNA molecules but have an extended region at one end which is engineered to provide additional functionality to the DsiRNA-EX molecules. Dicerna can also use this extended region to generate its DsiRNA-EX Conjugates, whereby a drug delivery agent is linked directly to the extended region of the DsiRNA-EX molecule, potentially enabling the delivery of DsiRNA-EX Conjugates to patients through a subcutaneous injection.
About Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Dicerna is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of innovative treatments for rare inherited diseases involving the liver and for cancers that are genetically defined. The Company seeks to use its proprietary RNA interference technology platform to build a broad pipeline in these therapeutic areas. In both rare diseases and oncology, Dicerna is pursuing targets that have historically been difficult to inhibit using conventional approaches, but where connections between targets and diseases are well understood and documented. The Company intends to discover, develop and commercialize novel therapeutics either on its own or in collaboration with pharmaceutical partners.
Source: http://www.dicerna.com/