Beactica wins grant to develop combination therapy for glioblastoma

Beactica AB, the Swedish drug discovery company, today announced that it has been awarded a grant of 2.8 MSEK (~$300 000) from SweLife and Medtech4Health for its project focused on finding effective therapies for glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. Treatment methods for glioblastoma have shown no significant improvement for the last 15 years and Beactica serves to meet this unmet need through the development of allosteric modulators of an enzyme called LSD1.

The compound developed by Beactica, BEA-17, recently showed indication of efficacy in an in vivo proof-of-principle study. The currently funded project is coordinated by Beactica and part of a collaboration with Uppsala University, the Akademiska Hospital in Uppsala and the SciLifeLab Drug Discovery and Development Platform. It aims to establish synergistic effects of BEA-17 in combination with currently approved anti-cancer agents. Beactica’s allosteric LSD1 modulators have also shown efficacy in models of treatment-resistant glioblastoma.

“We are delighted about the recognition that this important project continues to receive,” said Per Källblad, CEO of Beactica. “It is clear that BEA-17 is a promising compound on its own, but a combination therapy may create the synergy needed to maximise the clinical outcome in glioblastoma.”

Beactica’s LSD1 programme focuses on the development of first-in-class small molecule allosteric modulators of LSD1 to treat glioblastoma and other cancers. Beactica’s compounds have a fundamentally different mechanism of action from catalytic LSD1 inhibitors under development, and have been shown to exhibit in vivo efficacy in advanced oncology models.

The joint initiative from SweLife and Medtech4Health awards high-quality life science projects and Beactica’s project is one of 16 innovative proposals sharing the amount of 41 MSEK, out of 122 applicants.

About Beactica

Beactica AB is a specialist drug discovery company, utilising its proprietary methodologies to evaluate the interactions of molecules in order to generate novel therapeutics. As well as progressing its own drug discovery programmes in areas of unmet medical need, Beactica offers partnerships for fragment-based lead generation using its drug discovery platform. Founded in 2006 based on research carried out at Uppsala University, Beactica has established a reputation as a world-leader in fragment-based drug discovery using SPR biosensor technology. For more information on Beactica, please visit www.beactica.com.

About SweLife

Swelife is a strategic innovation programme, funded by the Swedish Government via the Swedish innovation agency, Vinnova, and by the programme’s partners. We support collaboration within academia, industry and healthcare, with the goal to strengthen Life Science in Sweden and to improve public health.

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