Empowered Patient Podcast Targeting Hippo Pathway to Inhibit NF2 Mutant Cancers with Mark Manfredi Ikena Oncology
Mark Manfredi is the CEO and President of Ikena Oncology, which is exploring the Hippo Pathway and how it relates to the RAS Pathway and RAS Network in order to inhibit genes that are associated with cancer initiation, progression, and cancer cell survival. Ikena is learning a great deal about drugging these pathways for therapeutic intervention and therapeutic resistance for NF2 mutant cancers.
Mark elaborates, "We're working on two interconnected pathways. One is called the Hippo Pathway, and the other is called the RAS Pathway. Together we call it the Hippo and RAS Onco Signaling Network because there's a connectivity between these two pathways. We built a deep institutional knowledge as well as tools to enable us to get the right drug to the right patient."
"We follow the science from all angles, including the biologic, so a deep understanding of the mechanism and how it relates to cancer patients as well as chemical. So the best approach to targeting different nodes. This includes targeting individual targets or complexes and then translationally, importantly, understanding which patient populations could potentially benefit from our therapies."
"One of the indications that we're going into is mesothelioma because of the high prevalence of mutations in NF2, and mesothelioma is an unmet medical need. Therefore, the FDA recognized the unmet need as well as the innovation around IK-930 and gave us Fast Track designation as well as Orphan Drug designation."
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