Salarius Pharmaceuticals Receives $2.7 Million in Payment From the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas

Salarius Pharmaceuticals, Inc. recently announced the receipt of a $2.7-million payment under its existing contract with the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). The payment is part of a non-dilutive grant that was originally awarded in 2016 to support Salarius’ operations and development of its lead drug candidate, seclidemstat. Seclidemstat (SP-2577) is a novel, oral tablet, reversible inhibitor of lysine-specific histone demethylase 1 (LSD1), an enzyme that plays a key role in the development and progression of several cancers.

This latest disbursement of CPRIT funds is additive to the $33 million in cash Salarius previously reported on its balance sheet as of June 30, 2021, and up to $2.1 million in funding remains available to Salarius under the original 2016 CPRIT Award.

“The non-dilutive financial support Salarius has received from CPRIT during the past 5 years continues to play an instrumental role in our success in advancing the development of seclidemstat,” said David Arthur, CEO of Salarius. “Since the original CPRIT grant, Salarius has initiated research partnerships, fortified its intellectual property portfolio and expanded the exploration of seclidemstat into new cancer indications. In all, patients are being actively recruited for clinical trials across five patient groups, three in high unmet need sarcomas and two in high unmet need hematologic cancers.”

Founded in 2007 with a $3-billion bond issue and extended with an additional $3-billion bond issue in 2019, CPRIT funds cancer research and prevention services in Texas. Salarius was awarded a product development research grant in May 2016 for the development of seclidemstat and the disbursements are based upon Salarius’ achievement of specific goals and objectives. Under the grant agreement, Salarius must provide matching funds equal to 50% of the CPRIT funding and make a good faith effort to spend at least half of the CPRIT grant and matching monies within the State of Texas with Texas-based employees or contractors.

Salarius Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing cancer therapies for patients in need of new treatment options. Salarius’ lead candidate, seclidemstat, is being studied as a potential treatment for pediatric cancers, sarcomas and other cancers with limited treatment options. Seclidemstat is currently in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial for relapsed/refractory Ewing sarcoma and select additional sarcomas that share a similar biology to Ewing sarcoma, also referred to as Ewing-related or FET-rearranged sarcomas. Seclidemstat has received Fast Track Designation, Orphan Drug Designation and Rare Pediatric Disease Designation for Ewing sarcoma from the US FDA. Salarius is also developing seclidemstat for several cancers with high unmet medical need, with a second Phase 1/2 clinical study initiated by the MD Anderson Cancer Center in hematologic cancers. Salarius has received financial support from the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation to advance the Ewing sarcoma clinical program and was also a recipient of a Product Development Award from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). For more information, visit salariuspharma.com.