Benzinga | Aug 27, 2021 07:46AM EDT

Aileron Therapeutics Highlights Presentation Of Initial Findings From Ongoing Healthy Volunteer Study Of ALRN-6924 At ISEH 50th Annual Scientific Meeting

* Initial findings from an ongoing study demonstrated that a 0.3 mg/kg dose of ALRN-6924 has been very well tolerated and resulted in p53-mediated induction of the cell cycle inhibitor p21 in normal bone marrow cells in healthy volunteers

* Aileron is currently conducting a Phase 1b randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of ALRN-6924 0.3 mg/kg as a chemoprotective agent in patients with advanced p53-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

* ALRN-6924 is designed to activate normal p53 in healthy cells, thereby upregulating p21, which selectively pauses cell cycle in normal cells but not in cancer cells with mutant p53

* Nearly 1 million patients in the U.S., across all cancer types, are diagnosed annually with p53-mutated cancer

BOSTON, Aug. 27, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aileron Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ALRN), a chemoprotection oncology company focused on fundamentally transforming the experience of chemotherapy for cancer patients, today announced a poster presentation showcasing initial findings from its ongoing study of ALRN-6924 in healthy volunteers at the International Society for Experimental Hematology (ISEH) 50th Annual Scientific Meeting, which is currently underway. The initial findings demonstrated that a 0.3 mg/kg dose of ALRN-6924 has been very well tolerated and resulted in p53-mediated induction of the cell cycle inhibitor p21 in healthy, normal bone marrow cells without concurrent induction of apoptosis. The poster can be viewed on Aileron's website here.

"We're pleased to present our first human data demonstrating ALRN-6924's mechanism of action, namely, p53-mediated induction of p21 in healthy, normal cells without concurrently inducing apoptosis," said Manuel Aivado, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Aileron. "We believe these data validate our previously presented preclinical mechanism of action results for ALRN-6924 and also support the robust chemoprotective effect ALRN-6924 demonstrated against multiple chemotherapy-induced bone marrow toxicities in our Phase 1b trial in patients with p53-mutated small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). We look forward to presenting additional data from the ongoing healthy volunteer study in the future and evaluating clinical translation of these findings in our ongoing randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of ALRN-6924 in patients with p53-mutated NSCLC."

The healthy volunteer study is designed to characterize the time to onset, magnitude and duration of p21-induced cell cycle arrest in human bone marrow relative to ALRN-6924 administration. The ultimate aim of the study is to develop a universal dosing regimen for ALRN-6924 for use as a selective chemoprotective agent across a range of chemotherapies and p53-mutant tumor indications.

Aileron is currently evaluating ALRN-6924 in a Phase 1b randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of ALRN-6924 in patients with advanced p53-mutated NSCLC undergoing treatment with first-line carboplatin plus pemetrexed with or without immune checkpoint inhibitors.

In October 2020, Aileron presented data from its now completed Phase 1b clinical trial of ALRN-6924 in SCLC, demonstrating clinical proof-of-concept that treatment with ALRN-6924 resulted in a protective effect against neutropenia, thrombocytopenia and anemia in patients with p53-mutated SCLC treated with topotecan. Aileron will present final data from the Phase 1b SCLC trial and additional data from the healthy volunteer study at the upcoming European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress, being held September 16-21, 2021.