January 24, 2020, Shanghai, China - HaiHe Biopharma, a company focusing on the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative anti-tumor drugs, announced that the Phase I clinical trial of HH2710, an extracellular regulated protein kinase (ERK) inhibitor developed by the company, has recently completed the dosing of the first patient in the United States.

ERK is a key kinase in the MAPK signaling pathway. Targeting ERK can be used for the treatment of a variety of tumors caused by the prevalent mutations in the MAPK signaling pathway, such as non-small cell lung cancer, melanoma, thyroid cancer, pancreatic cancer, cholangiocarcinoma, head and neck cancer, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, endometrial cancer and other advanced tumors. At present, no ERK kinase inhibitor has been approved for marketing in the world. MAPK signaling pathway is a pathway with the highest mutation frequency in human malignant tumors, and its mutation rate reaches more than 80% in non-small cell lung cancer, melanoma and pancreatic cancer. Therefore, targeting MAPK signaling pathway has become an important tumor treatment strategy, which has been widely and deeply studied. The marketed inhibitors targeting upstream kinases of the MAPK signaling pathway, such as Vemurafenib, Dabrafenib, Trametinib and Cobimetinib, have demonstrated that inhibitors of this signaling pathway are efficacious and safe in clinical practice for tumor treatment. They are used as the first-line and the second-line standard treatment for the patients with melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer. Although these approved upstream kinase inhibitors bring exciting anti-tumor activity and survival benefits, most patients inevitably develop acquired drug resistance within a year. As the only key downstream kinase in the MAPK signaling pathway, ERK is expected to overcome the acquired drug resistance or non-druggability of upstream kinase and provide possible treatment for the majority of patients.  HH2710 is an innovative, potent and specific small molecule ERK kinase inhibitor, which was developed jointly by HaiHe Biopharma and Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Science.

Haihe Biopharma is an innovation-driven biotechnology company in China focusing on the discovery, development, production and commercialization of innovative anti-tumor drugs. Haihe brings life-saving therapies to cancer patients worldwide. It also has a research and management team with a global perspective, and is proactively mapping out the international development of innovative drugs. The Company currently has thirteen key drug candidates. As of today, Haihe Biopharma has received 21 IND or clinical trial approvals in four countries and regions.