NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Kura Oncology said today that it is collaborating with Foundation Medicine to support patient enrollment for Kura's clinical program for tipifarnib in patients with relapsed and/or refractory HRAS mutant squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN).
Through this collaboration, Foundation Medicine's SmartTrials Precision Enrollment program will contact physicians treating individuals across the US diagnosed with SCCHN whose tumors harbor HRAS mutations as detected in the course of routine clinical care.
The treating physicians will be contacted and informed of Kura's ongoing Phase 2 study of tipifarnib, including relevant details about the trial, such as trial patient characteristics and investigational centers, to assist the physician in evaluating tipifarnib as a potential treatment option.
Core to Foundation's SmartTrials program is its FoundationCore knowledgebase, comprising more than 120,000 patient genomic profiles obtained through sequencing studies. Pharmaceutical partners can use the knowledgebase to identify new targets, optimize trial design, and screen patients for enrollment who meet specific genomic criteria, according to Foundation Medicine's website.
"Our preliminary data suggests tipifarnib has activity in patients with HRAS mutant squamous cell head and neck cancer, who have failed other treatment options, and we believe Foundation Medicine's unique expertise and outreach to physicians treating SCCHN patients, in particular, in the community treatment setting fit well with our company's objectives and values," Troy Wilson, president and CEO of Kura Oncology, said in a statement.