Pasithea Therapeutics to Present New Preclinical Data Showing PAS-004 Strongly Inhibits NRAS Cancer Cell Lines and Demonstrates Superior Activity in Xenograft Studies at 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting

Pasithea
Pasithea

In This Article:

-- PAS-004 inhibition of in vitro NRAS cell lines does not plateau in contrast to approved MEK inhibitors --

-- PAS-004 inhibition of in vitro NRAS cell lines is greater than selumetinib and binimetinib and similar to trametinib --

-- PAS-004 shows superior activity versus selumetinib and binimetinib in NRAS xenograft tumor models --

-- Poster presentation on Saturday, June 1, 2024 at the ASCO Annual Meeting --

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. and MIAMI, May 28, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pasithea Therapeutics Corp. (NASDAQ: KTTA) (“Pasithea” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing PAS-004, a next-generation macrocyclic MEK inhibitor, for the treatment of neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) and other cancer indications, announced today the publication of data showing PAS-004 strongly inhibiting NRAS mutant cancer cell lines with IC50 values ranging from 0.024 to 0.306 μM. Maximal growth inhibition of >50% was achieved by PAS-004 in more cell lines than binimetinib and selumetinib. In addition, PAS-004’s cell line inhibition was comparable to trametinib in 5 cell lines tested but, in contrast to trametinib, PAS-004 did not reach a plateau.

The results will be presented at the upcoming American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting on June 1, 2024, in a poster session from 9:00 am - 12:00 pm CDT in Chicago, IL.??

“We are excited to show new preclinical data showing enhanced potency of PAS-004 when compared to approved agents, with the potential for less frequent dosing which may lead to better tolerability and compliance.” said Dr. Tiago Reis Marques, Chief Executive Officer of Pasithea. “We believe this emerging profile hits the sweet spot balancing pharmacokinetics (PK), pharmacodynamics (PD) and tolerability and making PAS-004 an ideal candidate for the treatment of cutaneous and plexiform NF1 as well as a potential candidate for treatment of various cancers. We are looking forward to the initial readout of our Ph1 clinical trial.”

PAS-004 is the first macrocyclic MEK inhibitor to enter human clinical trials, with an expected extended half-life which may provide better compliance rates, as well as improved efficacy in NF1. Macrocycles are known to exhibit stronger binding, better solubility and longer half-life with more selectivity and less off target effect as compared to acyclic small molecules.

Presentation and poster details

Title: PAS-004: A novel macrocyclic MEK inhibitor to inhibit cancer cell growth in vitro and tumor growth in mouse xenograft studies.
Presenting author: Graeme Currie, PhD
Session: Poster Session – Developmental Therapeutics – Molecularly Targeted Agents and Tumor Biology
Date and Time: 6/1/2024, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM CDT