Kinnate aims to advance its lead candidates into clinical trials next year and collaborate with investigators at precision cancer centers on future research projects.
The first prospective study of BRAF-mutated cholangiocarcinoma showed a 51 percent response rate among patients treated with Novartis' Tafinlar and Mekinist.
The approval is based on the results from the Phase III IMspire150 study, in which patients treated with the three-drug combination had an improvement in progression-free survival.
Through the partnership, Strata will use its next-generation sequencing test to identify advanced cancer patients with mutations in the MAPK signaling pathway.
The study will evaluate the safety, tolerability and clinical activity of JSI-1187 in patients with relapsed, refractory solid tumors containing mutations in the MAPK pathway.
The company raised $74.5 million in a series B financing round last December, with which it hopes to study its RAF inhibitor in various cancers with non-V600 BRAF mutations.
PLX8394 is currently being studied in a Phase I/II trial of BRAF-mutated tumors, and Novellus plans to use its next-generation sequencing-based FACT assay to help further develop the drug.
Based on the finding that 80 percent of low-grade glioma patients saw their tumors shrink, researchers suggested that BRAF inhibitors may be useful in earlier lines of treatment.
In two studies, researchers showed the benefit of combining Tecentriq, Cotellic, and Zelboraf and sticking with continuous versus intermittent dosing of targeted drugs.
