Oxford – Chroma Therapeutics Limited announced today that GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has approved the progression of Chroma’s novel macrophage-targeted HDAC inhibitor, CHR-5154, towards human clinical development subject to regulatory approval, triggering an undisclosed milestone payment from GSK.

HDAC inhibitors have been demonstrated to have broad anti-inflammatory activity, in addition to their activity in a variety of cancers, and may be useful for the treatment of severe inflammatory disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis. CHR-5154 is an orally-dosed agent utilising Chroma’s proprietary esterasesensitive motif (ESM) technology, which enables compounds to be targeted to specific cells (macrophages) critically involved in the inflammatory disease process. Chroma has already progressed CHR2845 from its ESM technology platform into human clinical trials. Separately, Chroma announced that its collaboration with GSK has been extended to enable their Epinova Discovery Performance Unit to apply Chroma’s ESM technology to a novel GSK epigenetic target. Chroma will receive an upfront cash payment and is eligible to receive milestones and royalties based on compounds arising from this element of the collaboration. 

Richard Bungay, CEO of Chroma, commented:

“We are delighted to be able to achieve this key milestone and progress this highly innovative agent towards clinical development. We will assess its potential to address significant unmet needs in patients with severe inflammatory disorders. Further, the extension of our collaboration with GSK highlights the potential of the ESM platform to deliver a pipeline of differentiated therapeutic agents addressing a range of novel disease targets.”