S*BIO TO COLLABORATE WITH SWEDISH UNIVERSITY

S*BIO, a biotech company based in Singapore, announced it has entered into a research collaboration with the Karolinska Institutet, a Swedish medical university.

The goal of the partnership is to evaluate the role of S*BIO's proprietary histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors in the treatment of colorectal cancers and to investigate the underlying mechanisms of the development of gastrointestinal polyps and tumors.

HDACs are a class of enzymes that remove acetyl groups from an epsilon-N-acetyl lysine amino acid on a histone. Chromatin remodeling in part controls the expression of genetic material during cell division and is regulated by histone modifications. Deacetylation of histones by HDAC modifies the chromatin from an open gene-active euchromatin structure to a closed gene-silenced heterochromatin structure, which may reduce the transcription of genes that suppress tumor growth.

S*BIO focuses on the research and development of targeted small-molecule drugs for the treatment of cancer with leading programs in HDAcs and kinases. Its lead candidate, SB939, will begin clinical development during the first quarter.