Erasca seeks to erase cancer's most commonly mutated pathway | $ERAS
Precision cancer treatments go deeper every year, most often zeroing in on repairing distinct, validated mutations. Just this year Nuvalent, Inc. (NASDAQ:NUVL) and ArriVent BioPharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVBP) advanced separate molecules aimed at treating subsets of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with distinct genetic mutations.
Related
Erasca, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:ERAS) scientific platform adopts a slightly different approach. Erasca stands for Erase Cancer. The company is developing drugs targeted at cancer’s “most commonly mutated pathway,” named RAS/MAPK. Erasca claims about 5.5 million of newly diagnosed cancers per year possess RAS/MAPK pathway alterations; more than 90% of the 5.5 million have limited or no treatment options.
While different drugs successfully have targeted distinct signaling nodes of the RAS/MAPK pathway, Erasca expects its holistic approach to modifying the pathway to overcome past patient resistance and poor tolerability to current, approved drugs. Erasca’s first efficacy test will combine its drug naporafenib (a pan-RAF inhibitor) plus Mekinst (trametinib) in solid tumor cancer patients with RAS Q61X mutations.
Key catalysts
Efficacy data from phase Ib trial of naporafenib (pan-RAF inhibitor) plus trametinib in cancer patients with RAS Q61X solid tumors
Key catalyst dates
October 24, 2024
—
