On August 7, 2025 K36 Therapeutics, Inc. ("K36"), a privately held clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel, targeted therapies for cancers with unmet medical need, reported the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the Investigational New Drug (IND) Application for KTX-2001, a selective, oral inhibitor of NSD2 (nuclear receptor-binding SET domain protein 2), a histone methyltransferase and oncogene that activates gene expression in some cancers (Press release, K36 Therapeutics, AUG 7, 2025, View Source [SID1234655011]).
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With this clearance, KTX-2001 becomes the second NSD2 inhibitor from K36 to advance into clinical development. This Phase 1 program will evaluate KTX-2001 both as a monotherapy and in combination with Bayer’s androgen receptor inhibitor, darolutamide, for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) NCT07103018.
"We are proud to announce the FDA cleared the IND for our second clinical program, KTX-2001, on July 3rd. This achievement demonstrates our team’s efficiency and focus on advancing KTX-2001 and positively impacting the lives of patients with mCRPC," said Terry Connolly, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of K36. "Along with this significant milestone, I am delighted to announce the Company has entered into a clinical trial collaboration agreement with Bayer for supply of darolutamide for the combination with KTX-2001 in our trial."
Under the terms of the agreement, K36 will conduct and sponsor the trial and Bayer will supply darolutamide. K36 maintains development and commercial rights to KTX-2001. KTX-2001 is a highly potent and selective inhibitor of NSD2 that is being developed for the treatment of solid tumors, initially mCRPC, and compliments K36’s first clinical candidate, KTX-1001, that is being developed for the treatment of relapsed and/or refractory multiple myeloma patients with genetic translocation t(4;14).
Separately, K36 announced it has selected the Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials Consortium (PCCTC) as the Contract Research Organization (CRO) who will operationalize the KTX-2001 clinical program, STRIKE-001. "We are pleased to partner with K36 as its CRO. PCCTC has established a robust network of academic and community sites, and has significant expertise in managing innovative, multisite prostate cancer clinical trials and are uniquely positioned to support the efficient launch and execution of the STRIKE-001 trial," said Jake Vinson, CEO of the PCCTC.
Jason Redman, MD, Senior Medical Director at K36 Therapeutics and leader of the KTX-2001 prostate cancer program stated, "Targeting NSD2 inhibition as a first-in-class, oral therapy represents a fundamentally new approach to treating prostate cancer by modulating the epigenetic drivers of tumor progression. This novel mechanism is distinct from other epigenetic therapies and addresses the underlying biology in a new way. The STRIKE-001 Phase 1 trial marks an important step forward, bringing a promising new option to patients with limited treatment alternatives."
About KTX-2001
KTX-2001 is a small molecule, specific inhibitor of the nuclear receptor binding SET domain protein 2 (NSD2) (also known as multiple myeloma [MM] SET domain-containing protein [MMSET]/Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome candidate 1 protein [WHSC1]). Both KTX-1001 and KTX-2001 specifically inhibit NSD2 methylation of histone H3 at lysine 36 (H3K36) and disrupts aberrant NSD2-dependent oncogenic pathways.
About the KTX-2001 Phase 1 Clinical Trial
The Phase 1 clinical trial STRIKE-001 NCT07103018 is a multi-center, open label dose escalation of KTX-2001 single agent (Part A) and KTX-2001 combination with darolutamide (Part B). Part A will evaluate the safety and tolerability, maximum tolerated dose and recommended phase 2 dose(s) of KTX-2001 monotherapy in participants with mCRPC. Part B will study the safety and tolerability of KTX-2001+darolutamide to determine the recommended Phase 2 dose(s) of KTX-2001+darolutamide in participants with mCRPC. Additionally, objectives for Parts A and B include pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and preliminary clinical activity. K36 expects to enroll approximately 140 participants with mCRPC who have progressed on a second generation or later androgen receptor inhibitor (AR) targeted therapy/androgen biosynthesis inhibitor starting in 2H2025.