TOSK, INC. — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase I: DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Somatic kRAS mutations, termed oncogenic kRas, are fo
TOSK, INC. — SBIR Phase I award from Department of Health and Human Services.
- Amount
- $225,000
- Agency
- Department of Health and Human Services · National Institutes of Health
- Program / Phase
- SBIR · Phase I
- Solicitation
- PA13-234
- NAICS
- —
- Place of performance
- CA
- Period
- —
Description
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Somatic kRAS mutations, termed oncogenic kRas, are found at a high rate in many cancers. For example, in colon cancer, the rate is 40%. Mutated KRAS allows the EGF system to bypass its natural controls and operate continuously, locked in a pro-growth mode (wild-type kRas, but not oncogenic KRAS, is self- inactivating). Consistent with this mechanism, the presence of mutated KRas predicts lack of response to anti- EGF monoclonal antibody therapeutics such as panitumumab (Vectibix) and cetuximab (Erbitux) in colorectal cancer. The goal of this grant is to discover compounds that specifically inhibit oncogenic kRas without affecting normal kRAS. Such molecules would be expected to restore the anti-cancer efficacy of anti-EGFtherapeutics such as panitumumab and cetuximab when administered to patients with oncogenic kRas. Unfortunately, many previous efforts to target oncogenic KRas have failed, and kRAS has been declared an intractable target by many cancer researchers