Advertise With UsAdvertise on our extensive network of industry websites and newsletters.
Get the PBR newsletterSign up to our free email to get all the latest PBR
news.Array BioPharma and Clovis Oncology have partnered to discover KIT inhibitor targeting resistance mutations, including all exon 17 resistance mutations, for the treatment of GIST.
Subscribe to our email newsletter
As a part of the agreement, Array will discover novel KIT inhibitor and Clovis is responsible for the pre-clinical and clinical development and commercialisation, as well as development of a companion diagnostic to identify patients with specific KIT mutations.
Financial terms of the agreement have not been revealed.
Clovis Oncology president and CEO Patrick Mahaffy said the company is collaborating with Array to identify the fourth product candidate.
"This program is highly complementary to our current programs, takes advantage of our experience in developing targeted therapies with companion diagnostics and represents another cost effective approach to building our pipeline," Mahaffy added.
"If successful, we would hope to file an IND within three years, which is also well-timed as our existing pipeline matures."
The approved first and second-line therapies for GIST include tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) Gleevec (imatinib) and Sutent (sunitinib), respectively.
Each of the GIST therapies inhibit few KIT mutations, but acquired resistance due to secondary KIT mutations that occur in the majority of GIST patients.
None of the currently-approved therapies inhibit exon 17 mutations, which are considered the most difficult to treat, and characteristically emerge after other TKI therapy in at least 50% of patients with progressive disease.