With about $77 million in hand from a public offering and a phase II trial in progress with its farnesyl transferase inhibitor, tipifarnib (tipi), Kura Oncology Inc. is gearing up for a 59-patient pivotal study in squamous head and neck cancer patients with mutations in the HRAS oncogene. Enrollment could take two years, but the experiment puts the company "at the cutting edge" of research into a notoriously tough disease, CEO Troy Wilson told BioWorld.