MEI Pharma to Present Design of Ongoing Clinical Study Evaluating ME-344 at ASCO GI Cancers Symposium 2024

MEI Pharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: MEIP), a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company evaluating novel drug candidates to address known resistance mechanisms to standard-of-care cancer therapies, today announced the design of the ongoing Phase 1b study of the mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) inhibitor ME-344 in combination with bevacizumab (Avastin) in refractory metastatic colorectal cancer patients will be presented during a poster session at the 2024 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium to be held January 18 – 20, 2024.

Presentation Title: A Phase 1b Study of the OXPHOS Inhibitor ME-344 in Combination with Bevacizumab in Refractory Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
Session Title: Trials in Progress Poster Session C: Cancers of the Colon, Rectum, and Anus
Presenter: Patrick M. Boland
Date: Saturday, January 20, 2024, 6:30-7:45 AM (Pacific Time)
Abstract Number: TPS222

The poster can be viewed on the MEI Pharma website here:
https://meipharma.com/ASCO2024enocuyg.html#

About the Phase 1b Study

The ongoing Phase 1b study is evaluating ME-344 plus bevacizumab across two cohorts in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer after failure of standard therapies. The combination of ME-344 and bevacizumab is intended to create metabolic synthetic lethality by leveraging the ability of antiangiogenics like bevacizumab to reduce glycolysis, forcing tumors to switch to mitochondrial respiration via OXPHOS, which is inhibited by ME-344.

In the first cohort of approximately 20 patients ME-344 is administered at 10 mg/kg once weekly for 3 weeks in combination with bevacizumab every two weeks, with cycles repeated every 4 weeks. If the rate of non-progression in Cohort 1 reaches a predetermined progression free survival threshold, Cohort 2 will enroll an additional 20 patients. Patients will be treated until disease progression or intolerability. The primary endpoint of the study is progression free survival. Secondary endpoints include overall response rate, duration of response, overall survival and safety.

The study is being conducted at member centers of the Academic GI Cancer Consortium (AGICC), an oncology consortium dedicated to identifying new drugs to treat gastrointestinal (GI) cancers.

About ME-344

ME-344 is a novel drug candidate that inhibits mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), a fundamental metabolic pathway involved in the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in the mitochondria. ATP provides energy to drive many metabolic cell processes, including division, proliferation, and growth. By disrupting the production of ATP, ME-344 has been shown to induce cancer cell death in nonclinical models and was associated with antitumor activity in clinical studies.