INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Esanex, Inc., a clinical stage company developing Heat Shock Protein inhibitors for the treatment of cancer, today announced the first patient has been dosed in an open-label study of SNX-5422 added to ibrutinib in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) subjects with residual disease (clinicaltrials.gov ID#NCT02973399).

“ Resistance to ibrutinib is a serious concern in CLL,” says Dr. Jennifer A. Woyach, M.D., The Ohio State University. “ SNX-5422 is designed to attack cancer cells by a different, complementary mechanism, making their escape from cell death much harder. There is a critical need to develop drugs and drug combinations for the patients suffering from this life-threatening disease.”

The study is designed to investigate the safety of combining SNX-5422 and ibrutinib and provide information on whether the addition of SNX-5422 to an established dose of ibrutinib will provide clinical benefit in subjects who have stable, residual disease on ibrutinib alone. In each cycle, subjects will receive SNX-5422 (56 mg/m2) in the morning once every other day for 21 days (11 doses), followed by a 7-day period without SNX-5422 treatment. Subjects will continue to receive daily oral ibrutinib at their established dose level in the afternoon.

“ The initiation of this clinical trial marks a major milestone for our Company,” said Steve Hall, Ph.D., president and CEO of Esanex. “ The new mechanistic understanding of SNX-5422 that Esanex has uncovered, which differentiates our compound from other Hsp90 inhibitors, has enabled us to rationally approach monotherapy and select combination therapies for distinct indications. We believe we are only beginning to see the potential of SNX-5422 and Hsp90 inhibition as a treatment for cancer and possibly other diseases.”

About SNX-5422

SNX-5422 is a chemically unique, orally active Hsp90 inhibitor that has provided durable clinical responses in open label trials in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and neuroendocrine tumors (NET). The potential of SNX-5422 in hematologic cancers is currently being explored in a chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) clinical trial. With approximately 200 patients treated to date, SNX-5422 has a well-established safety profile that supports studying it in combination with existing approved drugs in a variety of clinical settings.

About Esanex

Esanex is a clinical-stage company with new insights into Heat Shock Proteins as an important cancer target. Our lead program, SNX-5422, has shown durable clinical responses in rationally-designed combination studies in patients with non-small cell lung cancer and neuroendocrine tumors. We are also advancing SNX-5422 in select hematological tumors, including CLL. www.esanexpharma.com