G1 Therapeutics and Pepper Bio Announce Global (Excluding Asia-Pac) License Agreement for Lerociclib

- Pepper Bio will Gain Exclusive Rights for the Clinical Development, Regulatory Submissions, and Commercialization of Lerociclib in the US, Europe, Japan, and All Other Global Markets Excluding Asia-Pacific -

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. and BOSTON, May 01, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- G1 Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: GTHX), a commercial-stage oncology company, and Pepper Bio, the world’s first transomics drug discovery and development company, announced a global licensing agreement (excluding the Asia-Pacific region) for lerociclib for all indications except for certain radioprotectant uses. As Pepper Bio’s first in-licensed therapeutic, lerociclib is a potent and selective inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6 (CDK4/6). The therapeutic has previously demonstrated impressive efficacy in clinical studies across various cancer types, including two completed Phase 3 clinical trials in HR+/Her2- metastatic breast cancer.

Today, the most common type of liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), is the third leading cause of all cancer-related deaths. Using Pepper Bio’s transomics platform, COMPASS, the company was able to identify CDK4 and CDK6 as potentially important targets in treating HCC. Pepper Bio then tested lerociclib in preclinical models, which showed superior efficacy over standard of care during and after dosing. With this in-licensing deal, lerociclib will be Pepper Bio’s first therapeutic on its way to Phase 2 clinical trials.

Pepper Bio’s platform, COMPASS, translates layers of biological maps, including genomics (genes), transcriptomics (RNA), proteomics (proteins), and phosphoproteomics (function of proteins), to offer researchers a complete picture of how diseases impact biology. Setting Pepper Bio apart from other drug discovery platforms is its unprecedented ability to look at the real-time function of proteins in a biological system, as opposed to the current methods of only measuring the presence, type, and quantity of proteins. COMPASS unveils the intricate functions of these proteins, which significantly impact how drugs are built and developed. 

"Liver cancer is a real and devastating diagnosis for hundreds of thousands of patients each year. Adding lerociclib into our pipeline is a significant step forward in our mission to find treatments for untreatable diseases," said Jon Hu, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Pepper Bio. “Lerociclib holds tremendous promise as a cornerstone of our oncology portfolio, and we are excited to leverage its potential to bring life-saving treatments to those in need."