Sareum has announced that Sierra Oncology has decided to return the rights to the out-licensed CHK1 asset SRA737 (held in partnership with the CRT Pioneer Fund, CPF), following GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) $1.9bn acquisition of Sierra in July 2022. SRA737 was in-licensed by Sierra in 2016 and Sareum holds a 27.5% economic stake in the proceeds. Development work on SRA737 had been put on hold (due to funding constraints), but Sierra had recently indicated plans for renewed development as a potential combination therapy. This was before Sierra was picked up by GSK for its lead asset momelotinib (targeting myelofibrosis, a haematological cancer of the bone marrow). We see this latest development as a mild setback for Sareum given that GSK’s support could have accelerated development activity on the drug, triggering a $0.55m payment to Sareum from first patient dosing in a new clinical trial. However, it does provide Sareum and partner CPF with an opportunity to actively assess future development plans for SRA737, leveraging the positive clinical data.
