XIN5789

Gilead Sciences on Tuesday said it acquired all outstanding shares of XinThera for an undisclosed sum, adding a slate of preclinical assets to its pipeline, including a trio of PARP1 selective compounds for oncology and a pair of candidates targeting MK2 for inflammatory diseases. Some of the projects could enter clinical testing later this year, with Gilead noting that both the PARP1 and MK2 programmes may be able to address multiple indications."XinThera has developed research assets with the potential to target the DNA damage repair pathway in treating cancer and direct the body's immune response in inflammatory diseases," explained Flavius Martin, executive vice president for research at Gilead. He added "this acquisition will allow us to further expand our early pipeline of diverse assets that will continue to fuel our…late-phase portfolio."XinThera claims on its website that its PARP1 compounds have demonstrated selective anti-tumour activity in homologous recombination deficient (HRD) cancer models, while mitigating the haematological toxicities seen with first-generation dual PARP1/2 inhibitors. This in turn could allow combinations with DNA-damaging agents, including systemic chemotherapy and targeted drugs such as Gilead's Trop-2-directed antibody-drug conjugate Trodelvy (sacituzumab govitecan-hziy).The PARP1 programme includes XIN5104 and XIN5789, both of which are at the investigational new drug (IND)-enabling stage as potential treatments for HRD+ solid tumours such as breast, ovarian, prostate, pancreatic and other cancers. Another compound, XIN6301, which is in earlier development, is touted as being able to enter the central nervous system (CNS) to allow for treatment of primary CNS malignancies as well.Meanwhile, XinThera's MK2 inhibitors are XIN594 and XIN5404, both of which are in IND-enabling studies. The company believes the MK2-blocking pathway represents an "exciting therapeutic option" for patients living with inflammatory conditions such as psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and inflammatory bowel disease. "Targeting the P38-MK2 pathway directly inhibits multiple therapeutically relevant cytokines such as TNF, IL-6, IL-17 and IL-1β, all of which are indirectly impacted by JAK inhibitors, while sparing other cytokines and growth factor which are impacted by JAK inhibition," the company says.Financial terms of the buyout agreement were not disclosed, although Gilead said it expects the transaction to reduce its 2023 earnings by approximately $0.12 to $0.15 per share.