Erasca’s ERAS-007 is currently being evaluated alone or in combination with different inhibitors to upstream MAPK pathway nodes as part of the MAPKlamp strategy.
Under the collaboration, Lilly will supply cetuximab for the ongoing Phase Ib/II HERKULES-3 trial at no cost.
In this clinical proof-of-concept study, ERAS-007 is evaluated in various combinations to treat BRAF V600E-mutant metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients.
By forming a joint committee, the two companies will review the results of the clinical trial, which will be sponsored by Erasca.
Erasca chairman, CEO, and co-founder Jonathan Lim said: “We are grateful to Lilly for their collaboration as we explore the therapeutic potential of adding ERAS-007, our intermittently-dosed ERK1/2 inhibitor, to the current standard of care regimen for this patient population.
“We expect the long-term benefits seen with current standard of care may be limited due to resistance mechanisms, particularly through MAPK reactivation.
“ERAS-007 inhibits the terminal node of the MAPK pathway and based on preclinical models, offers more robust inhibition of MAPK reactivation over MEK and other ERK inhibitors.”
In September last year, the company signed a similar collaboration deal with Pfizer to get access to the latter’s BRAF inhibitor encorafenib (BRAFTOVI) for the same study.
Erasca stated that the encorafenib plus cetuximab combination therapy improved overall survival in mCRC patients with a BRAF V600E mutation as per the clinical results.
Now, it is evaluating ERAS-007 in combination with encorafenib and cetuximab to reduce the emergence of resistance and improve benefits of treatment for BRAF V600E CRC patients.