OnKure signs collaboration deal with Pfizer on melanoma treatment

BOULDER — OnKure Inc. has entered into a collaboration with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) for a skin cancer drug combination.

In a statement Monday, the Boulder-based OnKure said it and Pfizer will work together to see through an OnKure-sponsored proof-of-concept study for its drug candidate OKI-179 in combination with Pfizer’s already-approved Mektovi drug.

Mektovi was originally developed by the formerly Boulder-based Array Biopharma, which Pfizer acquired last year for $11 billion.

OKI-179 is thought to treat skin cancers by inhibiting activity caused by a specific mutation in NRAS, a genetic marker that is susceptible to mutation into an aggressive cancer-producing cell. The U.S. National Institutes of Health estimates that 15% to 20% of all melanomas are caused by that specific genetic mutation.

OnKure president and CEO Tony Piscopio said in a statement that if shown to be effective, the drug candidate could be effective in treating other types of cancer, such as small-cell lung cancer or certain types of breast cancer that grow when exposed to estrogen.

“We believe, based on the exceptional tolerability profile of OKI-179, this agent has the potential to provide clinically-meaningful impact and confer a broad therapeutic index in combination with targeted therapeutics across additional tumor types,” Piscopio said.

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