Larkspur Biosciences, Inc.

LRK-A drives monotherapy anti-tumor activity, including complete tumor regressions, in CRC patient samples and an in vivo model IND-enabling studies are under way; Larkspur is moving rapidly toward clinical development March 28, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Larkspur Biosciences, a company pioneering a new wave in cancer therapy by targeting cancer-intrinsic drivers of immune evasion, announced that it will present positive preclinical efficacy data for LRK-A, Larkspur’s novel, lead investigational therapy targeting the lipid kinase PIP4K2C, in primary human tumor samples and an in vivo model of colorectal cancer (CRC). The data will be featured in a poster presentation at the 115th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR 2024) in San Diego, CA. “Larkspur Biosciences pursues novel targets inside the cancer, like PIP4K2C, that prevent the immune system from seeing and attacking it. Our data at AACR 2024 demonstrate the potential of targeted PIP4K2C degradation to uncloak the tumor and support the advancement of our PIP4K2C degrader program as a monotherapy to treat CRC and other solid tumors,” said Catherine Sabatos-Peyton, PhD, CEO of Larkspur Biosciences. “Using LarkXCRC, our proprietary bioinformatics platform, Larkspur developed a patient biomarker strategy to select the patients most likely to respond to LRK-A. This strategy enables the design of clinical trials that are smaller, faster, and have a higher probability of success.” CRC is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the U.S.; in people under the age of 50, CRC is the top cause of cancer mortality in men and second cause in women1. Larkspur aims to shift the treatment paradigm – which hasn’t meaningfully changed in decades – by effectively activating the immune system against tumors by targeting PIP4K2C. “PIP4K2C is part of the ‘dark kinome’ – the approximately 25% of kinases with unknown or poorly understood functions,” said Nathanael Gray, PhD, professor of chemical and systems biology at Stanford University and co-founder of Larkspur. “My co-founders and I jointly discovered that PIP4K2C acts in both cancer cells and immune cells to get tumor antigens presented to the right immune cells. Lew Cantley discovered that uniquely among the family of PI5P4K isoforms, mice that were germline knockouts of PIP4K2C broke tolerance, a hallmark of key targets that drive cancer immune evasion. Larkspur’s AACR 2024 presentation sheds further light on PIP4K2C by offering key evidence for its role as a cancer-intrinsic driver of immune evasion in both tumor and immune cells, and demonstrating the therapeutic promise of degrading the target in CRC and other solid tumors.” Published Abstract Number: 5574 Title: “Degradation of PIP4K2C by novel bivalent functional degrader LRK-A induces tumor regression in CRC” Session Category / Session Title: Tumor Biology / Tumor-Immune System Cross-Talk Session Date and Time: Tuesday, April 9, 1:30-5:30 pm PDT Location / Poster Board Number: Poster Section 12 / Number 30 Presenter: Eva d’Hennezel, PhD, Director of Immunology, Larkspur Biosciences Larkspur Biosciences is pioneering a new wave in cancer therapy that stops immune evasion where it starts: in the tumor. Larkspur’s approach targets cancer-intrinsic factors that tumors use to escape immune detection and control to develop new treatment options for patients who cannot be helped by current therapies. The company is advancing first-in-class programs designed to eliminate tumor “bottlenecks” that drive immune evasion in colorectal cancer (CRC) and beyond. LarkX, the company’s proprietary bioinformatics platform, couples machine learning with tumor genetics to discover immune evasion pathways that originate in the tumor and enrich clinical strategies for potential responders to its therapies across multiple types of cancer. Larkspur’s founders include Lewis C. Cantley, PhD, professor of medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, professor of cell biology at Harvard Medical School; Vijay K. Kuchroo, DVM, PhD, professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, senior scientist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital; and Nathanael Gray, PhD, professor of chemical and systems biology at Stanford University. 1 American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2024. Atlanta: American Cancer Society; 2024. The content above comes from the network. if any infringement, please contact us to modify.

MILAN--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- NanoPhoria, a pre-clinical stage biotech company that is developing a versatile, non-viral drug delivery platform based on inorganic nanoparticles and has a lead product for heart failure, announced two key board appointments as it continues to build a versatile and experienced team. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: Prof. Michael H. Davidson (Photo: NanoPhoria bioscience) Suman Shirodkar, M.B., B.S., PhD, an executive with 25 years of leadership experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, was named Chair of the Board of Directors. Dr. Shirodkar has held top management roles at McKinsey & Co, Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Novartis, and The Medicines Company, and has broad leadership experience managing cross functional teams in early portfolio strategy, late-stage product development and approval and global commercialization. Her therapeutic area experience spans cardiology, oncology, diagnostics and anti-virals, and while at Pfizer and Novartis she worked on several leading blockbuster cardiovascular drugs. She has served as a consultant for numerous biotechnology companies and most recently served as CEO at two biotech companies, Larkspur Biosciences, an immuno-oncology start-up, and Cambridge Epigenetix, where she led a team of more than 50 people developing an epigenetic liquid biopsy test for early cancer detection. Michael H. Davidson, MD, a leading expert in the field of lipidology who is currently Professor of Medicine and Director of the Lipid Clinic at the University of Chicago, was named as a non-executive Board member. Prof. Davidson is a serial entrepreneur who co-founded Corvidia and Omthera Pharmaceuticals with Sofinnova Partners, which was the lead investor in both companies. Corvidia was sold to NovoNordisk for up to $2.1 billion in 2020, and Omthera was acquired by AstraZeneca for $443 million in 2013. He currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of New Amsterdam Pharma, which was listed on the NASDAQ in November 2022, and is on the board of Sonothera, a private biotech company. Prof. Davidson is a world authority in the field of cardiology and clinical research has conducted over 1000 clinical trials and has published more than 350 medical journal articles in lipidology. Prof. Davidson said: “I look forward to working with Suman and the talented team at NanoPhoria to help advance its cutting-edge platform and to advance its lead product for heart failure which has the potential to make a significant impact on patient outcomes. This product has already shown impressive efficacy in pre-clinical models, and we are eager to rapidly develop it for use in patients.” Dr. Shirodkar said: “I am impressed by the progress made by NanoPhoria and am excited about our potential to deliver a variety of biologics through this unique non-viral technology platform. We aim to catalyze breakthrough innovation in heart failure by progressing our lead product currently in pre-clinical development to first-in-human studies.” NanoPhoria’s platform allows selective targeting at the organ and/or cellular level. The core vehicle of the platform is an inorganic calcium-phosphate nanoparticle that is a versatile, non-viral, biomimetic nano-carrier that can be loaded with active biologics. The lead product coming out of the platform is a treatment for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), a chronic syndrome affecting the lives of millions worldwide. Claudio De Luca, NanoPhoria’s Chief Executive, said: “NanoPhoria’s unique technology has enabled us to attract the best talent to the board. We are delighted to welcome Suman and Michael to the Board of Directors.” Lucia Faccio, a Partner at Sofinnova Partners, said, “The company has made great progress since our initial investment in the spring of 2022. We are thrilled to have such an experienced Board and are sure that NanoPhoria is now poised to reach its full potential.” About NanoPhoria NanoPhoria is a biotech company based in Milan that is developing a versatile, non-viral drug delivery platform based on inorganic nanoparticles. The company's first product is a pre-clinical stage treatment for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), a chronic syndrome affecting the lives of millions worldwide. NanoPhoria is a spin-off from CNR, the largest public research institution in Italy, and supported by Sofinnova Partners. View source version on businesswire.com: Contacts NanoPhoria Claudio De Luca, Chief Executive Officer claudio.deluca@nanophoria.com Source: NanoPhoria Smart Multimedia Gallery Photo Prof. Michael H. Davidson (Photo: NanoPhoria bioscience) Photo Dr. Suman Shirodkar (Photo: NanoPhoria bioscience) Logo View this news release and multimedia online at:

WATERTOWN, Mass., Oct. 25, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Larkspur Biosciences, a biotechnology company building precision therapies to outsmart cancer, announced that data supporting development of a novel investigational therapy targeting Pin1 will be featured in a poster presentation at the 38th Annual Meeting of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2023) on November 3 in San Diego, CA. The data look at how the potential therapy will target Pin1 to program fibroblasts to drive a pro-immune response at the tumor. “Larkspur Biosciences was founded to pursue targets shared by cancer and immune cells that the cancer hijacks to evade immunity. Our data at SITC 2023 demonstrates that Pin1 is a promising cancer–fibroblast target to pursue for therapeutic interventions,” said Catherine Sabatos-Peyton, PhD, CEO of Larkspur Biosciences. “Standard of care immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment, but less than 30 percent of patients respond. At Larkspur, we believe there is an opportunity to leverage targets shared by both the cancer and the immune system as a more effective way to activate the immune system against cancer.” Presentation Details: Poster: Abstract 1433 Title: "Targeting peptidyl-prolyl isomerase Pin1 to modulate cancer-associated fibroblast phenotype and TGF-beta signaling" Time: Friday, November 3, 12-1:30pm and 5:10-6:40pm PT Location: San Diego Convention Center, Exhibit Halls A and B1 Presenter: Melvyn Chow, PhD, Associate Director, Biology, Larkspur Biosciences About Larkspur Biosciences Larkspur Biosciences is building precision therapies to outsmart cancer. Larkspur’s approach targets the unique ways that tumors hijack the immune system by using pathways shared by cancer and immune cells, developing precision therapies for molecularly defined patient populations in order to overcome these bottlenecks. The company is advancing its first-in-class programs to outsmart the tumor and enable robust and sustained responses in colorectal cancer (CRC) and beyond. LarkX, the company’s target discovery platform, leverages tumor genetics from patient-derived data to fuel its pipeline and offers the opportunities to address multiple types of cancer. Visit us at and follow us on LinkedIn and X. CONTACT: Adam Silverstein Scient PR adam@scientpr.com