Teva Licenses Cephalon PARP Inhibitor To Checkpoint Therapeutics
This article was originally published in Scrip
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. has licensed an oral PARP inhibitor originally developed by Cephalon to Fortress Biotech company, Checkpoint Therapeutics, Inc. one of several subsidiary companies of Fortress Biotech, Inc. Checkpoint will obtain exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize CEP-8983 and its small molecule prodrug, oral PARP (poly ADP-ribose polymerase) inhibitor, CEP-9722, which is in early clinical development for solid tumors.
The small molecule selective inhibitor of PARP-1 and PARP-2 enzymes, CEP-9722, will be developed by Checkpoint as a monotherapy and in conjunction with other anticancer agents, including its own immuno-oncology and checkpoint inhibitor antibodies. PARP enzymes are usually involved in the cellular processes such as DNA transcription, cell cycle regulation and DNA repair. It is believed that there is increased activity of these DNA repair enzymes in tumor cells, making them resistant to treatment. By inhibiting the PARP enzymes, cancerous cells would be unable to repair any damage, resulting in them dying.
AstraZeneca leads the PARP inhibitor field: its product Lynparza (olaparib) was approved for ovarian cancer in the US and Europe in December 2014. There are various other PARP inhibitors in the late-stage pipeline, including Tesaro, Inc./Merck & Co Inc.'s niraparib, Clovis Oncology, Inc./Pfizer, Inc.'s rucaparib, Medivation, Inc./BioMarin's talazoparib and AbbVie Inc.'s veliparib. All are being studied for breast and/or ovarian cancers, and veliparib is also under Phase III investigation for non-small cell lung cancer.
Teva bought Cephalon in May 2011.