BARCELONA, July 14th, 2022 – Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), a world-leading healthcare institution where healthcare, research, innovation and education go hand in hand, and Oncoheroes Biosciences, a biotech company exclusively focused on advancing new therapies for children with cancer, today announced they have entered into a partnership to collaborate in the discovery and development of innovative therapies for pediatric sarcomas.
Survival rates in childhood cancer have improved considerably in recent decades with an overall survival close to 80% in developed countries. However, some of the most common solid tumors, such as soft tissue or bone sarcomas, still show an adverse prognosis in a high percentage of patients (nearly 40%). Sarcomas in children account for approximately 14% of cases and 20% of deaths in childhood cancers.
Oncoheroes Biosciences Discovery Lab, located at Barcelona Science Park and led by Dr. Eva Mendez, focuses on discovering and developing novel oncology drugs for those pediatric cancers with the highest unmet needs. “Pediatric sarcoma patients have not seen any significant improvement in treatment options in decades. We are excited to initiate this collaboration with Dr. Josep Roma, a recognized expert in this type of childhood cancer,” stated Dr. Eva Mendez, Oncoheroes’ Chief Discovery Officer. “We strongly believe that academic-industry collaborations are key to discover the new generation of drugs for childhood sarcomas.”
Dr. Roma is leading the Sarcoma Laboratory in the Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders research group at VHIR. His current research focuses on discovering new therapeutic targets in rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), the most common soft tissue sarcoma in the pediatric population, by characterizing the role of embryonic pathways: Notch, Wnt, and Hedgehog. These pathways are essential during embryonic development and could have high oncogenic potential when an abnormal activation in childhood sarcomas is present.
Oncoheroes and VHIR’s collaboration will focus on the Hedgehog pathway, where recent studies led by Dr. Roma have identified novel targets for pediatric sarcomas with high therapeutic potential, not disclosed yet. The academic group has demonstrated that the inhibition of some specific targets results in killing selectively cancerous cells in both in vitro and in vivo models. Oncoheroes will rationally design new inhibitors and conduct high throughput screening campaigns for identifying new active compounds that will be later optimized in collaboration with Dr. Roma.
“The oncogenic mechanisms that we will evaluate in this collaboration are not exclusive to a single tumor type but are activated in a wide spectrum of sarcomas and other cancers,” added Dr. Josep Roma, VHIR’s researcher. “By combining the academic know-how generated at our research group, and the drug development and pediatric expertise from Oncoheroes’ team, we are confident we can accelerate the development of new targeted therapies for this underserved pediatric population”.
About Oncoheroes Biosciences
Oncoheroes Biosciences is a ground-breaking biotech company exclusively focused on the discovery and development of better drugs for children and adolescents with cancer. Our vision is to deliver benefits to young cancer patients and create value in the process. The company is headquartered in Boston, US, with a discovery lab in Barcelona, Spain. Oncoheroes is actively looking for in-licensing opportunities in the pediatric oncology space while working to generate new proprietary assets for a number of pediatric cancer indications with high unmet medical needs.
The Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) is a public sector institution that promotes and develops biosanitary research, innovation and teaching at the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital, aimed at finding solutions to the health problems of citizens and with the desire to contribute to the scientific, educational, social and economic development of its area of competence. Founded more than 25 years ago, the VHIR is part of the Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus, the Catalan Institute of Health (ICS), and is a CERCA center of the Department of Economy and Knowledge of the Generalitat de Catalunya, as well as a University Research Institute from to the UAB.
Agreement enables parallel development of volasertib for the benefit of all patients
Oncoheroes will continue the development of volasertib in childhood cancers while Notable will focus on the adult market using its high-fidelity Predictive Precision Medicine Platform
Volasertib is a PLK-1 inhibitor with therapeutic potential across a range of tumor types
Boston, MA, Nov, 11th, 2021 – Oncoheroes Biosciences Inc. (“Oncoheroes”), a biotech focused on advancing new therapies for childhood cancer, has out-licensed worldwide the adult rights of volasertib to Notable Labs, Inc. (“Notable”), a clinical-stage predictive precision medicine company. Under the terms of this agreement, Oncoheroes will retain the license for the development and commercialization of volasertib for pediatric cancers and continue its commitment towards childhood cancer. Notable will have exclusive rights to develop and commercialize volasertib in adult cancer indications. Financial details of this deal are not disclosed.
Volasertib is a Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK-1) inhibitor with evidence of clinical activity in relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML). PLK-1 overexpression has been shown to occur in a wide range of both solid tumors and hematological cancers. Volasertib was previously granted Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) and Rare Pediatric Disease Designation (RPDD) by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its use in treating pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), a soft tissue sarcoma. Oncoheroes is planning to take volasertib into the clinic with a Phase Ib/II clinical trial for the treatment of RMS.
Notable will leverage its high-fidelity Predictive Precision Medicine Platform to identify and select volasertib-responsive patients prior to their treatment and fast-track volasertib’s clinical development with phase 2/3 clinical trials in AML and other cancers.
“In-licensing clinical-stage therapies that pass our platform’s rigorous demands like volasertib represents an exciting milestone towards fulfilling Notable’s mission to deliver life-changing therapies precisely to those who will benefit,” said Thomas Bock, M.D., CEO of Notable. “We hope that this agreement will also contribute and accelerate Oncoheroes’ mission”.
“As a company solely committed to childhood cancer, we do not want to deviate our attention from developing new therapies for pediatric oncology. However, we are delighted about this out-licensing agreement as other patients can also benefit from our drug candidates,” said Ricardo Garcia, Oncoheroes’ co-founder and CEO. “Notable’s predictive precision medicine approach can revolutionize the traditional clinical development process and we are excited that volasertib will be one of their first assets to be assessed”.
About Oncoheroes Biosciences
Oncoheroes is a ground-breaking biotech company exclusively focused on the discovery and development of better drugs for children and adolescents with cancer. Oncoheroes’ vision is to deliver benefits to young cancer patients and create value in the process. The company is headquartered in Boston, US, with a discovery lab in Barcelona, Spain. Oncoheroes is actively looking for in-licensing opportunities in the pediatric oncology space while working to generate new proprietary assets for a number of pediatric cancer indications with high unmet medical needs.
For more information please visit: oncoheroes.com
About Notable
Notable is a clinical-stage platform therapeutic company developing a new class of precision medicines: predictive precision medicines. Notable aims to be the leader in predicative precision medicine and revolutionize the way in which patients seek and receive treatment: patient population by patient population, and cancer by cancer. By transforming historical standards of care, Notable expects to provide dramatic impact for patients and the healthcare community.
For more information please visit: notablelabs.com
BOSTON, Feb 15th, 2021 – SHEPHERD Therapeutics, a company dedicated to catalyzing lifesaving treatments for rare cancer patients, and Oncoheroes Biosciences, a biotech company focused on advancing new therapies for childhood cancer, today announced they have entered into a partnership to collaborate in the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative drug products for rare oncology indications.
Out of 400 known distinct cancers, 380 are considered rare according to the American Cancer Society’s metric of an incidence of less than 6 per 100,000. Rare cancers affect almost one in three new patients, or over half a million Americans each year. Despite the prevalence of rare cancers, 2012-2016 data shows that 75% of all clinical trials did not specifically include even one rare cancer by name.
Childhood cancer is considered a rare disease that accounts for about 1% of all U.S. cancer diagnoses. Every year, cancer takes the lives of 90,000 children and adolescents worldwide, despite treatment advances in recent decades. Although cancer is the leading cause of death by disease among children in the United States, pediatric oncology treatments are lacking: Only five pediatric-specific drugs have been granted U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in the last 20 years versus more than 200 for adults.
Oncoheroes and SHEPHERD’s collaboration advances a paradigm change in drug development for rare cancers. The companies will use DELVE, SHEPHERD’s next-generation, precision-oncology platform that integrates bioinformatics, machine learning and mathematics, to unveil unprecedented insights into rare cancers, including childhood cancer. DELVE enables the companies to move beyond a single target-based approach to identify all of the primary mechanisms of action responsible for drug response and resistance within the human transcriptome.
The companies’ first project of the collaboration will identify additional pediatric and rare adult indications for Oncoheroes’ lead asset, volasertib. Volasertib is an inhibitor of Polo-like-kinase 1 (PLK1), an enzyme known to be involved in disease progression in a number of cancers. Volasertib has recently been granted Rare Pediatric Disease Designation (RPDD) and Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) by the FDA for the treatment of rhabdomyosarcoma, the most common soft tissue sarcoma in children and young adults, representing 3-4% of all childhood cancers.
“Getting a diagnosis of cancer as a child should not be a death sentence, yet too many lives are being lost or diminished because of a dearth of pediatric cancer research and treatments,” said David Hysong, CEO of SHEPHERD. “SHEPHERD and Oncoheroes are coming together in hope and in action, leveraging the full extent of our combined technology, experience, and expertise to help save lives.”
“We are excited about this partnership between two mission-driven companies determined to address high unmet medical needs in the rare oncology space. We are confident that SHEPHERD’s technology, combined with Oncoheroes’ expertise in the pediatric oncology space, will deliver new therapeutics options to children and adolescents with cancer,” stated Ricardo Garcia, CEO of Oncoheroes.
About Oncoheroes Biosciences
Oncoheroes is a ground-breaking biotech company exclusively focused on the discovery and development of better drugs for children and adolescents with cancer. Our vision is to deliver benefits to young cancer patients and create value in the process. The company is headquartered in Boston, US, with a discovery lab in Barcelona, Spain. Oncoheroes is actively looking for in-licensing opportunities in the pediatric oncology space while working to generate new proprietary assets for a number of pediatric cancer indications with high unmet medical needs. For more information please visit: oncoheroes.com
About DELVE
DELVE is SHEPHERD’s next-generation, precision-oncology platform that integrates bioinformatics, machine learning, and mathematics to unveil unprecedented insights into cancer. DELVE moves beyond a single-target-based approach to identify complex and interconnected mechanisms responsible for drug response and resistance revealed in the human transcriptome. Using DELVE, SHEPHERD can identify the cancers for which each therapy potentially will work best – and the therapies that will work best for each cancer. This approach enables SHEPHERD to work faster and differently across over 100 cancers, multiplying the potential patient impact for any therapy, speeding development, and improving patient outcomes by optimizing for maximum clinical trial success.
About SHEPHERD
SHEPHERD is on a mission to change the way rare cancer is treated. Through SHEPHERD Therapeutics and the SHEPHERD Foundation, we attack rare cancer from every angle, with the goal of saving millions of lives. SHEPHERD Therapeutics pursues drug development differently than any other company: Using our precision-oncology platform, DELVE, we are moving beyond a single-target-based approach to identify complex and interconnected mechanisms responsible for drug response and resistance revealed in the human transcriptome, which inform the identification of promising potential treatments for specific cancers. The SHEPHERD Foundation is a non-profit fighting to generate industry-wide change related to rare cancer awareness and therapeutic availability. The Foundation drives transformative healthcare policy at the federal level, connects and advocates for rare cancer patients and their families, and ultimately aims to accelerate the availability of and access to rare cancer-related data, basic science and therapies – to ensure that no patient is left to die. Visit www.SHEPHERD.bio to learn more and join the fight.
