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Ivy Brain Tumor Center And BridgeBio Subsidiary QED Therapeutics Announce Collaboration To Advance Cancer Research And Treatment Options
Preclinical Study Designed To Test Investigational Agent Infigratinib For The Treatment Of Glioblastoma
(PHOENIX, AZ. – September 24, 2019) – The Ivy Brain Tumor Center at Barrow Neurological Institute, today announced a new collaboration with QED Therapeutics, Inc., a subsidiary of BridgeBio Pharma, Inc., to investigate the FGFR1-3 tyrosine kinase inhibitor, infigratinib, for the treatment of glioblastoma (GBM). With the goal of addressing unmet medical needs for those affected by malignant brain cancer, this collaboration will focus on targeting FGFR (fibroblast growth factor receptor) genetic alterations that have been shown to spur growth in malignant tumors.
“Five to seven percent of glioblastoma patients’ tumors are driven by FGFR signaling,” said Dr. Nader Sanai, director of the Ivy Brain Tumor Center. “We believe our collaboration with QED Therapeutics will enable us to test how FGFR-driven GBM tumors respond to infigratinib. If proven effective, we then intend to move forward new combined drug strategies incorporating this target.”
In the preclinical studies, the Ivy Center will employ orthotopically implanted, well-characterized FGFR3 fusion patient-derived xenograft models. This is intended to allow the team to further explore the extent to which the drug crosses the blood-brain barrier and what activity it has in the brain.
“We believe the work we are undertaking with the Ivy Center will provide critical insight to shape our clinical development strategy for this disease,“ said Susan Moran, M.D., M.S.C.E., chief medical officer of QED Therapeutics. “Our hope is that infigratinib will become the backbone of new combination therapies to treat patients with glioblastoma.”
Infigratinib is an orally administered, FGFR1-3 selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor. QED Therapeutics has observed activity that appears to be meaningful in clinical trials for cancers that are driven by errors in the FGFR genes. These include chemotherapy-refractory cholangiocarcinoma with FGFR2 fusions and advanced urothelial carcinoma with FGFR3 genetic alterations.
“The intricacies of the brain have posed significant challenges for brain cancer research and the development of therapies,” said Gary Li, head of translational medicine at QED Therapeutics. “We believe collaborating with the Ivy Brain Tumor Center will enable us to move swiftly and further translational research that we hope will unlock the doors to effective treatment options.”
Ivy Brain Tumor Center at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, AZ is a non-profit translational research program that employs a bold, early-phase clinical trials strategy to identify new treatments for aggressive brain tumors, including glioblastoma. The Ivy Center’s Phase 0 clinical trials program is the largest of its kind in the world and enables personalized care in a fraction of the time and cost associated with traditional drug development. Unlike conventional clinical trials focusing on single drugs, its accelerated trials program tests therapeutic combinations matched to individual patients. Learn more at https://www.ivybraintumorcenter.org. Follow the Ivy Brain Tumor Center on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
QED Therapeutics, a subsidiary of BridgeBio Pharma, Inc., is a biotechnology company focused on precision medicine for FGFR-driven diseases. Our lead investigational candidate is infigratinib (BGJ398), an orally administered, FGFR1-3 selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor that has shown activity that we believe to be meaningful in clinical measures such as overall response rate in patients with chemotherapy-refractory cholangiocarcinoma with FGFR2 fusions and advanced urothelial carcinoma with FGFR3 genomic alterations. QED is also evaluating infigratinib in preclinical studies for the treatment of achondroplasia. We plan to conduct further clinical trials to evaluate the potential for infigratinib to treat patients with other FGFR-driven tumor types and rare disorders.
For more information on QED Therapeutics, please visit the Company’s website at www.qedtx.com.
BridgeBio is a team of experienced drug discoverers, developers and innovators working to create life-altering medicines that target well-characterized genetic diseases at their source. BridgeBio was founded in 2015 to identify and advance transformative medicines to treat patients who suffer from Mendelian diseases, which are diseases that arise from defects in a single gene, and cancers with clear genetic drivers. BridgeBio’s pipeline of over 15 development programs includes product candidates ranging from early discovery to late-stage development.
BridgeBio Pharma Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements contained herein other than statements of historical fact constitute forward-looking statements, including statements relating to expectations, plans, and prospects regarding QED Therapeutics’ clinical development plans, clinical trial results, timing and completion of clinical trials, competitive environment, the success of QED Therapeutics’ collaboration with the Ivy Brain Tumor Center and its impact on QED Therapeutics’ clinical development strategy, and the clinical and therapeutic potential of infigratinib. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including, but not limited to, QED Therapeutics’ ability to initiate and continue its planned clinical trials of infigratinib, its ability to advance infigratinib in clinical development, the timing and success of any such continued clinical development, and the Ivy Center’s ability to initiate and continue its planned preclinical studies of infigratinib. Moreover, QED Therapeutics operates in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment in which new risks emerge from time to time. These forward-looking statements are based upon the current expectations and beliefs of QED Therapeutics’ management as of the date of this release and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to QED Therapeutics as of the date hereof, and QED Therapeutics disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.