SAN DIEGO - s4story -- Ting Therapeutics Inc., a San Diego biotechnology company developing therapies to prevent treatment-related tissue injury, has received investigational new drug approval in China for its lead candidate, TT004, clearing the way for a Phase Ib clinical trial in patients receiving cisplatin chemotherapy.

Cisplatin is among the most effective cancer treatments available, but its toxicities can limit therapy. About 40% of patients discontinue or modify chemotherapy because of treatment-related side effects, and cisplatin can cause permanent hearing loss in up to 80% of patients and acute kidney injury in about 30%.

TT004 is designed to protect healthy tissue from those effects while preserving cisplatin's anticancer activity. In preclinical studies, TT004 tripled survival following cisplatin exposure and reduced cisplatin-induced hearing loss and kidney injury by about 70%, without compromising the drug's effect on cancer.

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"These findings support our vision of TT004 as a chemoprotective therapy that could improve the tolerability of cisplatin while maintaining its anticancer efficacy," said Jian Zuo, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of Ting Therapeutics. "Our goal is to reduce the suffering caused by cisplatin treatment-related toxicities, help more patients receive and complete effective chemotherapy, and improve their long-term quality of life."

The Phase Ib trial will be conducted with oncologists and otolaryngologists at Eye and ENT Hospital of Fudan University in Shanghai. It will evaluate the safety and tolerability of oral TT004 given alongside standard-of-care cisplatin in patients with head and neck cancer. The study has received institutional ethics approval and is preparing to begin patient recruitment.

Ting licensed its China rights for TT004 to Rising Dragon, a Chinese biotechnology company. The two companies jointly developed TT004 as an oral tablet and secured IND approval from China's Center for Drug Evaluation for first-in-human evaluation.

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The trial is TT004's first clinical test. Its protective effects have so far been shown only in preclinical models, making the study a key step toward determining whether those results translate to patients.

Founded in 2018 by Zuo and Tal Teitz, Ph.D., Ting has advanced its pipeline with support from NIH Small Business Innovation Research grants and Department of Defense funding. Its programs target hearing loss caused by chemotherapy, antibiotics, noise exposure and aging.

Ting is now raising a Series A round to support TT004's clinical development.

Connect is sharing this announcement as part of its ongoing work to amplify the founders, companies and research advancing San Diego's life sciences community.

Learn more about Ting Therapeutics at https://tingtherapeutics.com.