Tarus Therapeutics and Impetis Biosciences announce a licensing deal to advance a portfolio of adenosine receptor antagonists for oncology and non-oncology indications
NEW YORK, NY and MUMBAI, INDIA / ACCESSWIRE / December 23, 2019 / Tarus Therapeutics, Inc., (Tarus) and Impetis Biosciences, Ltd., (Impetis), announced today that Tarus has taken an IP license from Impetis to develop a portfolio of adenosine receptor antagonists for cancer immunotherapy as well as non-cancer indications. Under the license agreement, Tarus receives exclusive worldwide rights to small molecule adenosine receptor antagonists comprising selective inhibitors of the A2A and A2B adenosine receptors as well as a novel sub-nanomolar "dual" antagonist with equipotent activity on both A2AR and A2BR receptors and a unique gut-restricted A2BR antagonist for GI-restricted cancers.
"Extracellular adenosine is now well-recognized as a metabolic checkpoint and a major immunosuppressive agent in the tumor microenvironment", said Dr. Sushant Kumar, Chief Executive Officer of Tarus. "We are excited to be advancing this field with what we believe is potentially the most comprehensive portfolio of first-in-class and best-in-class adenosine receptor antagonists in development for immuno-oncology."
"This agreement underscores the talent of the scientists who developed this IP and we are excited to work with Tarus to advance these molecules into the pipeline at Tarus with the ultimate goal of helping millions of patients with debilitating disease," added Dr. Kasim Mookhtiar, Director, Impetis Biosciences, who led the scientific team that developed these IP assets.
About Tarus Therapeutics
Tarus Therapeutics, Inc., is a biotechnology company focused on nucleotide metabolism in cancer. The company's lead programs target the immunosuppressive adenosine pathway in the tumor microenvironment (TME) for the treatment of resistant cancers. Adenosine is recognized as a key metabolic checkpoint, and high levels of extracellular adenosine have been evidenced to mediate profound tumor resistance. Selective inhibition of adenosine receptors A2AR and A2BR thus represents a promising approach for cancer immunotherapy. Tarus is developing one of the most comprehensive portfolios of adenosine receptor antagonists in the industry with highly potent and selective antagonists for A2A and A2B receptors, including a novel "dual" antagonist. Additional information on Tarus is available through its corporate website: www.tarustx.com.
About Impetis Biosciences
Impetis Biosciences, Ltd., was spun out of Advinus in 2017 and has potentially valuable therapeutic candidates discovered by the talented and experienced scientific team at Advinus Therapeutics. Impetis' assets include innovative potential treatment possibilities for difficult-to-treat therapeutic indications, subject to trials / tests at various phases. The company's assets could potentially be useful applications for auto-immune and inflammatory diseases as well as for oncology. Additional information on Impetis is available through its corporate website:
https://impetisbiosciences.com/index
Contact:
Tarus Therapeutics
info@tarustx.com
SOURCE: Tarus Therapeutics, Inc.
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