Health and Healthcare

Syndax Pharma Inks Key Agreement With National Cancer Institute

Chris Lange

Published: December 14, 2016 3:11 pm

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 4:45 pm

Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNDX) is watching its shares make a handy gain on Wednesday after the firm reported a key agreement. Essentially, the company announced that it has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

As part of the CRADA, Syndax will collaborate with the Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology at the NCI to evaluate the therapeutic benefit of entinostat in development for the treatment for multiple cancers, and SNDX-6352 in the development as a treatment of neoplastic diseases.

The terms of the CRADA allow for in vitro and in vivo testing of entinostat and SNDX-6352 as single agents and as combination therapies for the treatment of cancer. Based on the results of these studies, the NCI and Syndax may also conduct clinical studies with entinostat and SNDX-6352 alone or in combination with each other.

Additionally, entinostat and SNDX-6352 may be combined with other therapeutic regimens such as chemotherapy, small molecule targeted therapeutics, monocolonal antibodies, radiation, immunotherapy-enhancing molecules including checkpoint inhibitors, cancer vaccines and NK cell-based approaches.

Briggs W. Morrison, M.D., CEO of Syndax, commented:

We are excited by this collaboration with the NCI’s Center for Cancer Research, as it will allow us to leverage the expertise of Dr. Schlom and his team to enhance our ongoing efforts to identify the most promising potential applications of entinostat and SNDX-6352. In preclinical models, entinostat inhibits regulatory T cells and myeloid-derived suppressor cells, while SNDX-6352 down regulates tumor promoting macrophages. In turn, this leads to the targeting of what are believed to be some of the most critical pathways by which tumors mediate immunosuppression in the tumor microenvironment. We look forward to sharing our progress on this important collaborative research and to further partner with the NCI.

Shares of Syndax were last trading up 7% at $8.15, with a consensus analyst price target of $25.80 and a 52-week trading range of $7.36 to $18.03.