NEW YORK – Caris Life Sciences on Thursday said it is partnering with Flare Therapeutics to advance five of Flare's pipeline programs in precision oncology.
The agreement will give Flare access to Caris' next-generation sequencing and data analytics capabilities to test patients treated with its drug candidates and for the discovery and identification of novel biomarkers. Caris will also contribute a biomarker-driven patient selection process for clinical trials. Caris reserves the first option to develop a companion diagnostic for any drug candidate arising from the collaboration.
Flare recently raised $123 million in an oversubscribed Series B financing to advance its lead PPARG inhibitor program, FX-909, into the clinic later this year. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company is developing FX-909 for patients with urothelial cancer whose tumors have higher PPARG expression due to alterations in PPAR gamma, RXRZ, or FGFR3.
Flare presented data from another PPARG inhibitor, FTX-6746, at the 2022 EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium in October. In preclinical models, the drug suppressed PPARG target genes with durable tumor regression at well-tolerated doses, which the company said boosted its confidence in its platform.
"The data accessibility and continuum across real-world and clinical trial populations will provide Flare the necessary insights for successful molecule discovery and development," Caris CSO Milan Radovich said in a statement.