Poster Includes Preclinical Data on Pan-RAS Compounds Demonstrating Inhibition in Breast Cancer Models

CARLSBAD, Calif., Oct.  23, 2023  (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Qualigen Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: QLGN), a clinical-stage therapeutics company focused on developing treatments for adult and pediatric cancers with potential for Orphan Drug Designation, today announces a poster presentation on the Company's Pan-RAS platform at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Special Conference in Breast Cancer Research, held October 19th to 22nd at the Westin San Diego Bayview.

"The RAS pathway continues to be an area of immense interest within the scientific community and biopharmaceutical industry. Due to the prevalence and severity of RAS-driven tumors, there is a high unmet need to discover and develop more broadly acting RAS-targeted compounds. We believe a pan-RAS approach may potentially overcome KRAS G12C resistance that affects depth and duration of responses of emerging therapies," commented Michael Poirier, Qualigen's Chairman and CEO. "We are grateful for our partnership with Dr. Geoff Clark and his team at the University of Louisville, who have demonstrated the therapeutic potential of our approach to RAS."

RAS is seldom mutated in breast cancer, but it is often hyperactivated by upregulation of positive regulator activity (such as Her-2) or down-regulation of negative regulator activity (such as NF1 or DAB2IP). These effects are particularly common in Luminal B breast cancer. As a result, we have developed a series of novel direct Pan-RAS inhibitors that exhibit a distinct binding mechanism to other currently described RAS inhibitors.

Poster highlights included:

Our RAS inhibitors suppressed the interaction of RAS with its downstream mitogenic effectors and suppressed RAS signaling pathways (MAPK and RAL pathways) in Luminal B breast cell model systems.

Our Pan-RAS compounds inhibited 3D growth at doses that have little effect on normal 2D growth and are active against in vivo xenograft breast tumors and can be orally available.

RAS is the most common cancer oncogene. Activating mutations in one of the three human RAS gene isoforms (KRAS, HRAS, or NRAS) are present in about one-fourth of all cancers. For example, mutant KRAS is found in 98% of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas, 52% of colon cancers, and 32% of lung adenocarcinomas. According to the National Cancer Institute, mutant KRAS subsets of these three cancers alone are diagnosed in more than 170,000 people each year in the United States, resulting in more than 120,000 deaths annually.1 Substantial scientific and pharmaceutical industry interest is evident by the compounds either approved or in development to treat devastating RAS-driven advanced solid tumors, such as pancreatic cancer.

About Pan-RAS

Qualigen Therapeutics is collaborating with Dr. Geoff Clark and Dr. Joe Burlison at the University of Louisville, Kentucky to develop a series of potentially highly potent compounds to take forward into preclinical development. Lead compounds are believed to suppress or block the interaction of endogenous RAS with c-RAF, and thereby influence the KRAS, HRAS, and NRAS effector pathways. RAS acts as a "hub" that activates multiple effector pathways, hence blocking any single pathway may be ineffective for many RAS-driven tumor types, including pancreatic, lung, and colorectal cancers. This approach could potentially enable a differentiated, pan-RAS strategy for inhibiting the MAPK, PI3K, and RAL pathways implicated in cancer cell proliferation, survival, and differentiation.

About Qualigen Therapeutics, Inc.

Qualigen Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage therapeutics company focused on developing treatments for adult and pediatric cancer. Our investigational QN-302 compound is a small molecule selective transcription inhibitor with strong binding affinity to G4s prevalent in cancer cells; such binding could, by stabilizing the G4s against "unwinding," help inhibit cancer cell proliferation. The investigational compounds within Qualigen's family of Pan-RAS oncogene protein-protein interaction inhibitor small molecules are believed to block the binding of mutated RAS proteins to their effector proteins, thereby leaving the mutated RAS unable to cause further harm. In theory, such mechanism of action may be effective in the treatment of about one quarter of all cancers, including certain forms of pancreatic, colorectal, and lung cancers.

Contact:
Investor Relations
ir@qlgntx.com

Source: Qualigen Therapeutics, Inc.