NEW YORK – Caris Life Sciences, Sorrento Therapeutics, and the Prostate Cancer Clinical Trial Consortium on Thursday announced a partnership aimed at using precision oncology to guide advanced prostate cancer treatment.
For its part of the partnership, Caris will use its multi-platform tumor profiling test, dubbed Molecular Intelligence (MI) Profile, to analyze whole exome DNA, whole transcriptome RNA, and proteins from prostate cancer patients in the Sorrento-sponsored Phase II Maverick trial. The biomarker tests will help investigators better understand patients' responses and resistance to therapy.
The Maverick trial is designed to assess the safety and efficacy of Sorrento's small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor Fujovee (abivertinib) combined with hormone therapy for roughly 100 patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer whose tumors are positive for the HSD3B1(1245C) allele as determined by central germline testing.
For its part of the partnership, the Prostate Cancer Clinical Trial Consortium will use the insights gained from the collaboration to "better guide treatment options for future clinical trial participants," according to Jake Vinson, the consortium's CEO. The consortium's mission involves designing, implementing, and completing early-phase process driven clinical trials and translating scientific discoveries into improved standards of care.
"This study is the first biomarker clinical trial for patients with the HSD3B1 adrenal-permissive genotype in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate [cancer]," said Rana McKay, a medical oncologist at the University of California San Diego and an investigator on the Maverick trial. "A growing wave of data demonstrates that such patients exhibit resistance to hormonal treatment."