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Stand Up To Cancer Announces $4 Million Grant From Mirati Therapeutics To Support Research On KRAS Mutant Cancers
April 19, 2021 GMT
LOS ANGELES and SAN DIEGO, April 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Stand Up To Cancer® (SU2C) and Mirati Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: MRTX) – a late-stage targeted oncology company – today announced that Mirati will contribute a $4 million grant to SU2C to develop new approaches to treat patients with KRAS mutant cancers, as a part of the SU2C Catalyst® program.
The research will focus on cancer types with unmet medical needs, and the application of tumor-agnostic strategies and molecular testing to address those needs. Certain cancers can sometimes have mutations in the KRAS gene, which makes a protein involved in cellular growth and death. In KRAS mutant cancers, that protein can cause cancers to grow and spread. KRAS proteins were once considered undruggable, but recent research advances have resulted in the identification and development of investigational drugs against cancers that have specific KRAS mutations. Preliminary data from these investigational drugs have demonstrated early signs of clinical activity and studies are ongoing.