Stemline in-licenses oncology compound

SL-401 has demonstrated single agent anti-tumor activity in a phase I dose escalation study. Thirty adult patients with relapsed, refractory, or poor risk acute myeloid leukemia (AML) were treated with escalating doses of SL-401 without dose limiting toxicity.

Anti-tumor activity has been observed, including one durable complete response in a patient refractory to standard chemotherapy, two partial responses, and three minor responses.

SL-401 targets the interleukin-3 receptor (IL-3R) and has been shown to impair the ability of cancer stem cells to form tumors. IL-3R is over-expressed on multiple hematological cancers. Importantly, in AML, IL-3R is over-expressed on both leukemia blasts as well as leukemia cancer stem cells. Cancer stem cells are believed to be a major contributor to treatment failure, relapse, and death from malignancy.

“SL-401 constitutes the first concerted clinical effort to target leukemia stem cells,” stated Dr David Rizzieri of Duke University Medical Center.