Business
Aprea Therapeutics Announces Acquisition of Atrin Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Reports First Quarter 2022 Financial Results
BOSTON, May 16, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aprea Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: APRE), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing novel
About this update from Aprea Therapeutics, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"BOSTON, May 16, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aprea Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: APRE), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing novel cancer therapeutics targeting DNA damage response pathways today announced that it has acquired Atrin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (“Atrin”) and reported financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2022. Business Operations Update: On May 16, 2022 Aprea completed the acquisition of Atrin, a privately held biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of novel therapeutics targeting proteins in the DNA damage response, or DDR, pathway in oncology through synthetic lethality. The Company believes its cash and cash equivalents as of March 31, 2022 will be sufficient to meet its current projected operating requirements through the second half of 2023. With the acquisition of the Atrin programs, Aprea intends to shift its primary focus to the ATR inhibitor ATRN-119, which will be studied as both a monotherapy and in combination with standard of care in Phase 1/2a clinical trials in solid tumor malignancies. In parallel with ATRN-119 development, Atrin initiated separate programs for a second-generation ATR inhibitor, ATRN-354, with potentially improved potency and pharmacokinetics, as well as for a potentially highly potent and selective WEE1 inhibitor – ATRN-W1051. These programs are expected to enter IND-enabling studies in 2022 and Aprea anticipates filing Investigational New Drug applications for these programs in 2023. Furthermore, with the acquisition of Atrin, Aprea obtained an active proprietary development platform to drive the identification of new oncology drug targets and biomarkers. “Aprea has explored a range of strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value and we believe the acquisition of Atrin represents an opportunity to create substantial value for Aprea shareholders,” said Christian Schade, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Aprea. “The founders of Atrin are pioneers in the development of novel oncology compounds in the DNA damage pathway. We are excited to work with the Atrin team to begin clinical development of Atrin’s lead ATR program over the coming months, hasten the development of its differentiated WEE1 program, and support a robust platform to build a pipeline of novel inhibitors of the DDR pathway.” “We are excited to...