Arisaph Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Awarded Phase I STTR Grant To Develop Small Molecule Immune Modulators

BOSTON, July 31, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Arisaph Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held drug discovery and development biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel therapies for cardiometabolic diseases and cancer, announced today that it has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) award from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. The Phase 1 award supports the research and development of Arisaph's small molecule immune modulators to stimulate tumor immunity following treatment with BRAF inhibitors in cancer. Following the successful completion of the research, the Company may be eligible for up to $2 million of additional Phase 2 funding to further the development of its immune modulator program for the treatment of melanoma. To date, Arisaph has received in excess of $55 million of non-dilutive capital, including $2.8 million awarded under the U.S. government's Therapeutics Discovery Project Program (TDPP) and $37 million from royalty monetizations leveraging the Company's DPP 4 inhibitor patent estate.

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"We are delighted to receive our third small business grant from the NIH in support of our promising oncology programs, which could enhance the efficacy of existing therapies, such as BRAF inhibitors, for the treatment of melanoma," said Christopher P. Kiritsy, President and Chief Executive Officer. "This award continues the string of government grants and other non-dilutive support, enabling the Company to advance its pipeline in an investor friendly manner."

Arisaph has leveraged its medicinal chemistry expertise to develop a class of small molecule immune modulators to boost the immune system to fight various cancers. Such immune modulators are expected to enhance the efficacy of various therapeutic antibodies (e.g., mAbs for tumor killing or for immunomodulation) and small molecule anti-cancer agents, such as BRAF inhibitors to treat colon cancer, melanoma and possibly other solid tumors. The Company also is developing tumor activated prodrugs, which are largely inactive in general circulation, but selectively activated by a specific enzyme that is up-regulated in tumor tissue to release anti-cancer warheads. This platform technology has led to the discovery of a lead tumor activated proteosome inhibitor and a lead tumor activated doxorubicin for treatment of a range of cancers.

About Arisaph

Arisaph Pharmaceuticals Inc, an emerging biopharmaceutical company located in Boston, Massachusetts, was founded by Dr. William Bachovchin (Professor of Biochemistry, Tufts University School of Medicine), Christopher Kiritsy (Former EVP Corporate Development and CFO Kos Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) and Michael Jaharis (Founder, Chairman Emeritus, Kos Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) to develop differentiated therapies for cardiometabolic diseases and cancer. Arisaph employs rational drug design approaches to develop differentiated new chemical entities (NCEs) that are highly potent and act on select, validated targets. By focusing its drug development activities on validated targets, the Company believes that the risks associated with new chemical entity development can be mitigated compared with developing first-in-class compounds for nonvalidated targets. Arisaph has developed a rich pipeline of products at various stages of preclinical and clinical development, including a differentiated niacin analog being developed for the treatment of dyslipidemia. The Company's vision is to create a fully integrated pharmaceutical company leveraging its drug discovery expertise to develop transformational, patent protected, medicines that offer distinct safety, efficacy and/or tolerability benefits compared with existing therapies for large markets, whose needs are not being fully met by current therapeutics.

Certain statements in this press release, including statements regarding the Company's research and development effort, the Company's ability to finance its development programs into initial human clinical testing, and the Company's ability to successfully capitalize on the early stage research are subject to risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include risks and uncertainties related to: our ability to discover and develop new compounds and products using a novel approach to drug discovery; the early stage of all of our discovery and development efforts; our ability successfully to complete preclinical and clinical development of our products; our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approvals for our products; competition from other technologies and technologies similar to ours; obtaining, maintaining and protecting intellectual property utilized by our products; changes in legislation and regulations affecting our products and potential product candidates; our need to obtain additional funding to support our business activities; our dependence on collaborators and other third parties for development, manufacture, marketing, sales and distribution of products; the ability of our licensees to achieve developmental, regulatory and other milestones and to commercialize their products; the effect of conditions in the pharmaceutical industry and the economy in general, as well as certain other risks and uncertainties. Grants reported in this press release was supported by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers R41CA174008, 1R41CA174031-01, and 1R41CA156930-01A1.

SOURCE Arisaph Pharmaceuticals, Inc.