Editor’s Note: This interview was conducted at #Bio2018. Please pardon the background noise.
Brian Schwartz, Chief Medical Officer of ArQule, discusses his company and it’s focus on disease management. ArQule is engaged in the research and development of targeted therapeutics to treat cancers and certain rare diseases. The company’s clinical-stage pipeline consists of five drug candidates, all of which are in targeted, biomarker-defined patient populations, making ArQule a leader in precision medicine. These drug candidates include:
Derazantinib (ARQ 087) is an investigational, oral, multi-kinase inhibitor designed to preferentially inhibit the FGFR family of kinases with demonstrated activity in FGFR2 genetic alterations, including fusions. The drug has demonstrated favorable clinical data in a biomarker-driven Phase 1/2 trial in iCCA targeting patients with FGFR2 fusions. Both the FDA and EMA have granted ArQule orphan drug designation for this disease.
Miransertib (ARQ 092) is an investigational orally available, selective, pan-AKT inhibitor that potently inhibits AKT1, 2 and 3 isoforms. The drug is currently in phase 1b for oncology and phase 1 for Proteus syndrome, a rare over-growth disease, in a trial being conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Both trials are biomarker-driven and are focused on enrolling patients with the AKT1 mutation.
