NEW YORK – Ideaya Biosciences on Tuesday announced a clinical collaboration with Merck to study its PARG inhibitor darovasertib, or IDE161, in combination with Merck's checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in patients with microsatellite instability-high (MSI-high) and microsatellite stable (MSS) endometrial cancer.
The Phase I trial will be sponsored by Ideaya. The company is testing the darovasertib-Keytruda combination based on insights from preclinical studies, which it will report in a future R&D update.
"Ideaya's IDE161 combination strategy is focused on advancing multiple high conviction rational combinations, including beyond the [homologous recombination deficient] biomarker setting," Ideaya President and CEO Yujiro Hata said in a statement.
Ideaya, based in South San Francisco, California, has several ongoing trials for IDE161. One monotherapy trial involves testing the drug in estrogen receptor (ER)-positive HER2-negative breast cancer patients with homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) and other solid tumors with HRD, such as endometrial, colorectal, and prostate cancer.
The firm is also studying IDE161 in a Phase I/II trial as a single agent and in two separate combination cohorts with Pfizer's MEK inhibitor Mektovi (binimetinib) and with Pfizer's ALK inhibitor Xalkori (crizotinib) as a treatment for tumors harboring GNAQ or GNA11 mutations or PRKC fusions, including metastatic uveal melanoma, cutaneous melanoma, colorectal cancer, and other solid tumors.