Verastem Oncology's Ovarian Cancer Drug Gets FDA Orphan Drug Designation

Verastem, Inc. is a late-stage development biopharmaceutical company. The Company's pipeline is focused on anticancer agents that inhibit critical signaling pathways in cancer that promote cancer cell survival and tumor growth, particularly rapidly accelerated fibrosarcoma (RAF)/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MEK) inhibition and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) inhibition. The Company’s advanced product candidates, avutometinib and defactinib, are being investigated in both preclinical and clinical studies for the treatment of various solid tumors, including low-grade serous ovarian cancer (LGSOC), non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer (CRC), and melanoma. Avutometinib is an orally available small molecule RAF/MEK clamp that inhibits the ras sarcoma (RAS)/RAF/MEK, ERK mitogen activated pathway kinase (MAPK) pathway. Defactinib is an oral small molecule inhibitor of FAK and proline-rich tyrosine kinase (PYK2).