MEI Pharma Board of Directors Aligns on Strategy to Advance Voruciclib and ME-344
MEI Update from Study Evaluating Voruciclib with Venetoclax in Patients with AML
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MEI Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: MEIP), a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on advancing new therapies for cancer, today announced an update to the Phase 1 study evaluating voruciclib, an orally administered cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (“CDK9”) inhibitor, in patients with relapsed and refractory (“R/R”) acute myeloid leukemia (“AML”) or B-cell malignancies. These results demonstrate that, as of the data cut off, voruciclib alone or in combination with venetoclax (Venclexta®), a BCL2 inhibitor, was generally well tolerated with no significant myelosuppression. The results further demonstrated encouraging clinical activity in heavily pretreated patients administered voruciclib alone and at the initial dose level in combination with venetoclax. These early results are consistent with the hypothesized ability of voruciclib to inhibit MCL-1 via CDK 9 inhibition to address a common venetoclax resistance mechanism. Dose escalation is continuing in the voruciclib and venetoclax combination arm in patients with R/R AML.