Bayer has also partnered with Kumquat Biosciences on a significant deal, pledging as much as $1.3 billion for a global license to a KRAS G12D inhibitor that is nearing the clinic.
Kumquat, which also partners with Eli Lilly and Takeda, is developing several KRAS pathway programs. KRAS is one of the commonly mutated oncogenes whose proteins could not be targeted by drugs due to a lack of well-characterized binding pockets, until recently. As Amgen and Mirati Therapeutics demonstrated that KRAS G12C is druggable, there has been a surge in interest to hit against other forms of KRAS as well in recent years.
The next wave of programs is centred on KRAS G12D, which occurs in approximately 38 per cent of patients with pancreatic cancer. Last month, Kumquat was cleared by the FDA to study its drug candidate in human beings.
Kumquat lags behind the front-runners because of the timing of the IND clearance. Revolution Medicines is fronting the line, with the biotech weighing a move to a pivotal trial on the drug next year. Pivotal trial design is based on trial data in the early phase of pancreatic cancer or non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in patients. KRAS G12D genomic mutations are present in approximately 4 per cent of patients with NSCLC.
Earlier this year, Bristol Myers Squibb stepped out of the race after it acquired a KRAS G12D inhibitor, Mirati, made it impossible to succeed before Revolution does due to formulation difficulties, and several other firms continue to pursue Revolution. Bayer enters a crowd that includes clinical-stage KRAS G12D inhibitors and degraders, as well as tumor-specific T cells engineered to recognize T cells, such as Astellas, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, and Roche.
Kumquat will conduct the phase 1a study on its Bayer partnered prospect. In addition to that, Bayer will manage research and development together with commercialization. The agreement grants Kumquat an exclusive right to bargain about profit-loss sharing in the U.S.
Bayer has partnered with Kumquat Biosciences on a fruity deal that will see the company invest up to 1.3 billion dollars in the Bayer will place the candidate into an oncology pipeline headed by prostate cancer asset darolutamide and the NSCLC program sevabertinib, both in phase 3 development. According to the company, its acquisition of Kumquat supplements its current precision oncology business.
