Benzinga | Apr 20, 2021 08:01AM EDT

Vincerx Pharma Announces FDA Clearance Of IND For Phase 1b Study Of VIP152 In Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia And Richter Syndrome

Vincerx Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:VINC), a biopharmaceutical company aspiring to address the unmet medical needs of patients with cancer through paradigm-shifting therapeutics, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the Company's Investigational New Drug (IND) Application to initiate a Phase 1b dose escalation study evaluating VIP152, a highly selective PTEFb/CDK9 inhibitor, in patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and Richter syndrome (RS).

"The IND clearance for VIP152 in CLL is an important milestone for Vincerx, marking our first IND clearance and now second clinical program for what we believe is the most selective CDK9 inhibitor in clinical development," said Ahmed Hamdy M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Vincerx. "Preclinical data for VIP152 show highly selective, ATP-independent, inhibition of CDK9 which translates to robust on-target activity across key gene targets. Most importantly, we believe this differentiated profile leads to encouraging early clinical activity, with demonstrated durable single-agent activity in hematologic malignancies and heavily pretreated solid tumors. This new dose-escalation study in CLL and Richter syndrome, expected to initiate before year end, builds upon our planned Phase 1b expansion cohort study in MYC-driven hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, which is on track to begin patient dosing in Q2 2021. We are proud of our rapid progress and look forward to continued execution as we advance VIP152 through our targeted oncology clinical programs to address a broad range of aggressive, resistant cancers."

The Phase 1b dose-escalation study will evaluate VIP152 in patients with relapsed/refractory CLL who have failed a Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor (BTKi) and venetoclax. Part 1 of the study will enroll CLL patients treated with ?2 prior regimens including either a BTKi or venetoclax. Part 2 of the study will consist of a CLL Phase 1b expansion which will enroll 20 patients with CLL relapsed/refractory to venetoclax and BTKi, and a RS Phase 1b expansion which will enroll 20 patients with CLL transformed to diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) who have relapsed after, or been refractory to, at least 1 prior line of therapy for DLBCL and having MYC overexpression/ amplification/translocation. The Company expects to initiate the Phase 1b dose-escalation study in 2H 2021.

The Phase 1b dose-escalation in CLL and RS builds upon Vincerx's ongoing first-in-human (FIH) study in patients with advanced cancer. Part 2 of the FIH study is on-track to begin patient dosing in 2Q 2021 and will consist of two expansion arms. Arm 1 will enroll up to 30 patients with relapsed/refractory aggressive lymphoma including DLBCL, transformed follicular lymphoma, or blastoid mantle cell lymphoma. Arm 2 will enroll up to 40 patients with advanced solid tumors, including patients with ovarian cancer, triple negative breast cancer, castration-resistant neuroendocrine prostate cancer, and any other solid tumor with MYC aberration. All patients must have confirmed MYC overexpression or translocation.