Sumitomo Pharma America Inc (SMPA), a subsidiary of Japan-based Sumitomo Pharma Co Ltd, announced on Monday that it has signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The agreement is for the evaluation of enzomenib, an investigational, oral, small molecule designed to inhibit the menin and KMT2A protein interaction present in certain difficult to treat cancers.

The collaboration intends to harness the integrated expertise of SMPA and the NCI to further expand the scientific assessment of enzomenib as a potential therapeutic and explore additional cancers to deal with unmet patient requirements. Enzomenib will be explored in MyeloMATCH (Myeloid Malignancies Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice), an NCI precision medicine clinical trial designed to improve treatment outcomes for individuals diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) or myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Enzomenib will also be explored with other important NCI programmes.

SMPA is currently evaluating enzomenib in Phase 1/2 clinical trials for relapsed or refractory acute leukaemia. It is designed to target the menin and mixed-lineage leukaemia protein interaction, a key interaction for acute leukaemia and other cancer cell growth. In preclinical studies, enzomenib demonstrated selective growth inhibition in human acute leukaemia cell lines with KMT2A (MLL) rearrangements or NPM1 mutations -- cancers with particularly high mortality rates and limited treatment options.