On June 23, 2026 Vividion Therapeutics, Inc. (Vividion), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, and a wholly owned and independently operated subsidiary of Bayer AG, reported that the first patient has been dosed in a Phase Ib combination clinical trial evaluating VVD-214, an investigational oral inhibitor of Werner helicase (WRN). The study is evaluating VVD-214 in combination with bevacizumab in patients with microsatellite instability-high (MSI-high) or deficient mismatch repair (dMMR) colorectal cancer whose disease has progressed following prior lines of therapy.
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"Colorectal cancer remains one of the most common and challenging cancers to treat worldwide, and a substantial proportion of cases are driven by underlying defects in DNA repair," said Aleksandra Rizo, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Vividion. "VVD-214 reflects Vividion’s continued focus on uncovering and advancing therapies against critical cancer dependencies that have historically been difficult to target, including WRN, with the potential to deliver new precision medicines that address this urgent need."
VVD-214 is an investigational oral small-molecule inhibitor of WRN, a DNA repair enzyme that has emerged as a highly sought-after synthetic lethal target for cancers with microsatellite instability. Tumors that are MSI-high or dMMR rely on WRN to maintain DNA replication and repair despite their underlying genomic instability. By inhibiting WRN, VVD-214 is intended to cause lethal DNA damage in cancer cells while minimizing harm to normal cells, offering a potential precision medicine approach for patients with cancers such as colorectal, endometrial, ovarian and gastric tumors.
"Advancing precision oncology therapies for cancers driven by specific molecular vulnerabilities is a key focus of Bayer’s oncology strategy," said Christian Rommel, Ph.D., Global Head of Research and Development at Bayer’s Pharmaceuticals Division. "Targeting WRN represents a promising new therapeutic approach for genetically distinct subsets of some of the most common cancers worldwide, and we are encouraged to see VVD-214 continue to advance through clinical development."
The global Phase Ib clinical trial (NCT06004245) is planned to enroll patients at clinical sites across the U.S., Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Malaysia, South Korea, Spain, and the U.K. Preliminary data from the Phase Ia study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) 2025 Annual Meeting showed that VVD-214 was well tolerated with early signals of activity.
(Press release, Vividion Therapeutics, JUN 23, 2026, View Source [SID1234668896])