On May 18, 2022 Verastem Oncology (Nasdaq: VSTM), a biopharmaceutical company committed to advancing new medicines for patients with cancer, reported that it has received the first "Therapeutic Accelerator Award" from the Pancreatic Cancer Network (PanCAN) (Press release, Verastem, MAY 18, 2022, View Source [SID1234614819]). The Award will support a Phase 1b/2 clinical trial of the Company’s lead investigational candidates, RAF/MEK Clamp, VS-6766, with FAK inhibitor, defactinib, to evaluate whether a more complete blockade of KRAS signaling, which is mutated in more than 95% of pancreatic cancer tumors, will improve outcomes for patients with front-line metastatic pancreatic cancer.
Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:
Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing
Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!
"The goal of the Therapeutic Accelerator Award is ultimately to develop new drugs for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer faster and more efficiently than standard clinical trials," said Julie Fleshman, president and CEO of PanCAN. "We are delighted that Verastem, with rigorous scientific and clinical evidence for addressing this critical pathway, will be the inaugural awardee for this grant. We are looking forward to partnering with them to determine whether their investigational treatment combination will be beneficial to patients."
"We are honored to have been selected for this important award that will expand our development program for VS-6766 and defactinib to evaluate the combination in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer," said Louis Denis, Chief Medical Officer at Verastem Oncology. "We look forward to a strong collaboration with PanCAN and applaud its commitment to bring patients, academia and industry together to advance the science and accelerate development of much needed novel treatment options for patients."
PanCAN created the Therapeutic Accelerator Award as part of its innovative approach to pancreatic cancer research. This includes grants for scientists across the country as well as large-scale research initiatives such as PanCAN’s Precision PromiseSM Clinical Trial, which seeks to accelerate the approval of new treatment options for pancreatic cancer patients and PanCAN’s Early Detection Initiative, with a goal of developing a strategy to diagnose pancreatic cancer early when surgery is still possible.
Verastem Oncology was selected to receive the 2022 PanCAN Therapeutic Accelerator Award of $3.8M through a rigorous, competitive process involving scientific, business and programmatic review from leading experts in the field.
KRAS is mutated in more than 95% of pancreatic cancers and Verastem Oncology’s RAF/MEK clamp VS-6766 blocks tumorigenic signaling downstream of mutant KRAS. Verastem’s selective FAK inhibitor, defactinib, is included in the trial as FAK has been identified preclinically and clinically as a potential resistance mechanism to RAF and MEK inhibition. FAK inhibition has been shown to reduce stromal density in pancreatic cancer both preclinically and clinically which may enhance anti-tumor immunity and efficacy of the standard gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel regimen.
About the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network
The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) leads the way in accelerating critical progress for pancreatic cancer patients. PanCAN takes bold action by funding life-saving research, providing personalized patient services and creating a community of supporters and volunteers who will stop at nothing to create a world in which all pancreatic cancer patients will thrive.
About VS-6766
VS-6766 (formerly known as CH5126766 and RO5126766) is a RAF/MEK clamp that induces inactive complexes of MEK with ARAF, BRAF and CRAF potentially creating a more complete and durable anti-tumor response through maximal RAS pathway inhibition. VS-6766 is currently in late-stage development.
In contrast to other MEK inhibitors, VS-6766 blocks both MEK kinase activity and the ability of RAF to phosphorylate MEK. This unique mechanism allows VS-6766 to block MEK signaling without the compensatory activation of MEK that appears to limit the efficacy of other inhibitors. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted Breakthrough Therapy designation for the combination of Verastem Oncology’s investigational RAF/MEK inhibitor VS-6766, with defactinib, its FAK inhibitor, for the treatment of all patients with recurrent low-grade serous ovarian cancer (LGSOC) regardless of KRAS status after one or more prior lines of therapy, including platinum-based chemotherapy.
Verastem Oncology is conducting Phase 2 registration-directed trials of VS-6766 alone and with defactinib in patients with recurrent LGSOC and in patients with recurrent KRAS G12V-mutant NSCLC as part of its RAMP (Raf And Mek Program) clinical trials, RAMP 201 and RAMP 202, respectively. Verastem Oncology has also established clinical collaborations with Amgen and Mirati to evaluate LUMAKRAS (sotorasib) and adagrasib in combination with VS-6766 in KRAS G12C-mutant NSCLC as part of the RAMP 203 and RAMP 204 trials, respectively.