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Verastem Announces Presentation of Scientific Data Supporting FAK Inhibition in Combination with Immunotherapy at the Keystone Symposium on Cancer Pathophysiology
“To date, single-agent immunotherapy has achieved limited clinical benefit for patients suffering from pancreatic cancer,” said Dr. DeNardo. “This is thought to be due to abundance of tumor-associated immune-suppressive cells in pancreatic tumors along with the dense stroma that prevents T cell entry. Our data show that Verastem’s FAK inhibitor dramatically reduced tumor stroma and reduced numbers of immunosuppressive cells in pancreatic cancer models. Further, when the FAK inhibitor was combined with immune checkpoint antibodies, the tumors became highly responsive leading to a near tripling of survival times relative to checkpoint inhibitors alone.”
Details for the presentation at the Keystone Symposium on Cancer Pathophysiology are as follows:
Oral Presentation
Title: Reprogramming the Tumor Microenvironment to Facilitate
Responses to Immunotherapy
Session: Immune Cells I: Adaptive
and Innate Immune Cells in the Tumor Microenvironment (TME)
Date
and time:
A copy of the oral presentation will be available following the presentation at http://bit.ly/R3M6wc
About Focal Adhesion Kinase
Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK) is a non-receptor tyrosine kinase encoded by the PTK-2 gene that is involved in cellular adhesion and, in cancer, metastatic capability. VS-6063 (defactinib) and VS-4718 are orally available compounds that are potent inhibitors of FAK. VS-6063 and VS-4718 utilize a multi-faceted approach to treat cancer by reducing cancer stem cells, enhancing anti-tumor immunity, and modulating the local tumor microenvironment. VS-6063 and VS-4718 are currently being studied in multiple clinical trials for patients with cancer.
About
This press release includes forward-looking statements about Verastem’s
strategy, future plans and prospects, including statements regarding the
development and activity of Verastem’s product candidates, VS-6063,
VS-4718 and VS-5584, and Verastem’s FAK, PI3K/mTOR and diagnostics
programs generally, the utility of FAK inhibitors for the treatment of
cancer, the timeline for clinical development and regulatory approval of
our product candidates, the structure of our planned or pending clinical
trials, our rights to develop or commercialize our product candidates
and our ability to finance contemplated development activities and fund
operations for a specified period. The words “anticipate,” “appear,”
“believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “predict,”
“project,” “target,” “potential,” “will,” “would,” “could,” “should,”
“continue,” and similar expressions are intended to identify
forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements
contain these identifying words. Each forward-looking statement is
subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statement.
Applicable risks and uncertainties include the risks that the
preclinical testing of Verastem’s product candidates and preliminary or
interim data from clinical trials may not be predictive of the results
or success of ongoing or later clinical trials, that data may not be
available when we expect it to be, that enrollment of clinical trials
may take longer than expected, that our product candidates will cause
unexpected safety events, that
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160330005152/en/
Source:
Verastem, Inc.
Brian Sullivan, 781-292-4214
bsullivan@verastem.com
or
Argot
Partners
Maeve Conneighton, 212-600-1902
maeve@argotpartners.com