ORYZON Announces U.S. FDA Clearance of CTEP-CRADA Phase I/II Clinical Trial Sponsored by NCI for Iadademstat Plus Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in 1L Extensive Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer

MADRID, Spain and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 08, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Oryzon Genomics, S.A. (ISIN Code: ES0167733015, ORY), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company leveraging epigenetics to develop therapies in diseases with strong unmet medical need, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the Investigational New Drug (IND) application to initiate a Phase I/II trial with iadademstat plus immune checkpoint inhibitors in first line small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients with extensive disease. This will be the first clinical trial testing the combination of iadademstat with immune checkpoint inhibitors.

The trial () is entitled “A Phase I Dose Finding and Phase II Randomized Trial of Iadademstat Combined With Immune Checkpoint Inhibition Maintenance After Initial Chemoimmunotherapy in Patients With Extensive-Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer”. This Phase I/II clinical study will be conducted and sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, where Dr. Noura Choudhury from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) will be the main PI for this trial and will be implemented by a number of prestigious cancer centers in the US, including the MSKCC, the JHU Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center and many others. The trial plans to enroll 45-50 patients and will be carried out under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) that Oryzon has in place with the NCI.

Dr. Noura Choudhury stated, “This trial presents a novel opportunity to translate promising results derived from the laboratory indicating a role for LSD1 inhibition in small cell lung cancer.” 

“We are very pleased that NCI has received the regulatory approval from the FDA to initiate this first-in-human Phase I/II combination trial with iadademstat plus immune check point inhibitors” stated Dr. Carlos Buesa, Chief Executive Officer of Oryzon. “The molecular mechanisms underlying the ability of iadademstat to render small cell lung cancer cells visible to the immune system while simultaneously enhancing immune activity to aggressively target these malignant cells have been clearly elucidated. These unique anti-cancer epigenetic actions of iadademstat should greatly enhance the activity of the current standard of care in this critically underserved patient population.”

About Oryzon

Founded in 2000 in Barcelona, Spain, Oryzon (ISIN Code: ES0167733015) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company and the European leader in epigenetics, with a strong focus on personalized medicine in CNS disorders and oncology. Oryzon’s team is composed of highly qualified professionals from the pharma industry located in Barcelona, Boston, and San Diego. Oryzon has an advanced clinical portfolio with two LSD1 inhibitors, vafidemstat in CNS and iadademstat in oncology, in several Phase II clinical trials. The company has other pipeline assets directed against other epigenetic targets like HDAC-6 where a clinical candidate ORY-4001, has been nominated for its possible development in CMT and ALS. In addition, Oryzon has a strong platform for biomarker identification and target validation for a variety of malignant and neurological diseases. For more information, visit

About Iadademstat

Iadademstat (ORY-1001) is a small oral molecule, which acts as a highly selective inhibitor of the epigenetic enzyme LSD1 and has a powerful differentiating effect in hematologic cancers (see Maes et al., Cancer Cell 2018 Mar 12; 33 (3): 495-511.e12.doi: 10.1016 / j.ccell.2018.02.002.). A FiM Phase I/IIa clinical trial with iadademstat in R/R AML patients demonstrated the safety and good tolerability of the drug and preliminary signs of antileukemic activity, including a CRi (see Salamero et al, J Clin Oncol, 2020, 38(36): 4260-4273. doi: 10.1200/JCO.19.03250). Iadademstat has shown encouraging safety and efficacy data in combination with azacitidine in a Phase IIa trial in elder 1L AML patients (ALICE trial) (see Salamero et al., ASH 2022 oral presentation). Iadademstat is currently being evaluated in combination with gilteritinib in the ongoing Phase Ib FRIDA trial in patients with relapsed/refractory AML with FLT3 mutations. Beyond hematological cancers, the inhibition of LSD1 has been proposed as a valid therapeutic approach in some solid tumors such as small cell lung cancer (SCLC), neuroendocrine tumors (NET), medulloblastoma and others. In a Phase IIa trial in combination with platinum/etoposide in second line ED-SCLC patients (CLEPSIDRA trial), preliminary activity and safety results have been reported (see Navarro et al., ESMO 2018 poster). Iadademstat is being evaluated in a collaborative Phase II basket study with the Fox Chase Cancer Center (FCCC) in combination with paclitaxel in R/R neuroendocrine carcinomas, and the company is preparing a new trial in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) in SCLC. Oryzon has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) to collaborate on potential further clinical development of iadademstat in different types of solid and hematological cancers; a first trial in combination with ICI in SCLC has recently received FDA approval. In total iadademstat has been dosed so far to more than 130 cancer patients in four clinical trials. Iadademstat has orphan drug designation for SCLC in the US and for AML in the US and EU.

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