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Redx Pharma, Caris Life Sciences Partner for Colorectal Cancer Phase II Drug Study Recruitment

NEW YORK – Redx Pharma and Caris Life Sciences said on Monday that they have entered into a strategic partnership for clinical trial recruitment.

The firms plan to employ Caris’ comprehensive whole-transcriptome and whole-exome sequencing platform and right-in-time clinical trial solutions to boost US patient accrual for the pharma firm's Phase II trial of the investigational Porcupine inhibitor, RXC004, in colorectal cancer. Financial terms of the collaboration were not disclosed.

The drug is being advanced for genetically selected patients with Wnt-ligand dependent microsatellite stable metastatic CRC in the UK, US, Spain, and South Korea.

According to Redx, Caris' clinical trial solutions will help identify US patients who meet the trial's genetic eligibility criteria and other clinical requirements. These are individuals whose cancers carry Ring Finger Protein 43 loss-of-function mutations or R-spondin fusions, and who have progressed following therapy with the current standard of care.

The prevalence of these alterations is only around 8 percent in the target population, the company said, meaning that identification of potentially eligible patients involves a significant screening effort.

"We aim to greatly enhance the speed of our [accrual of] patients with Wnt-ligand driven metastatic colorectal cancer who currently have few treatment options. The Caris approach will complement our screening capabilities and potentially identify new populations where RXC004 may have utility," Redx CEO Lisa Anson said in a statement.

The strategic partnership with Caris will also include a real-world evidence collaboration, using Caris’ database of genetic sequences coupled with records of therapeutic interventions and patient outcomes, to retrospectively study patient outcomes and potentially identify additional populations where RXC004 may have efficacy.

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