Press release
Verastem Oncology Awarded Pancreatic Cancer Action Network’s First Therapeutic Accelerator Award to Evaluate the Combination of VS-6766 and Defactinib in Front-Line Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer
Award to Conduct Phase 1b/2 Clinical Trial of VS-6766 and Defactinib Combination in Addition to Standard of Care Chemotherapy with Objective of Increasing
About this update from Verastem, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"\nAward to Conduct Phase 1b/2 Clinical Trial of VS-6766 and Defactinib Combination in Addition to Standard of Care Chemotherapy with Objective of Increasing Response Rate and Survival\n\nTrial to Evaluate a Promising Approach for More Complete Blockade of Tumorigenic Signaling\n\n BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\n\nVerastem Oncology (Nasdaq: VSTM), a biopharmaceutical company committed to advancing new medicines for patients with cancer, today announced that it has received the first “Therapeutic Accelerator Award” from the Pancreatic Cancer Network (PanCAN). 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.\n\n“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.”\n\n“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.”\n\nPanCAN 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 De...