Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) is a key cell cycle pathway regulator involved in tumor growth and development. PI3Kα mutations in p110α subunit, H1047R and E542K/E545K are found in patients with several cancer types, including breast cancer and are targeted by approved drugs such as Piqray (alpelisib, Novartis AG).
Wall Street’s measure of how Cogent Biosciences Inc.’s KIT D816V inhibitor bezuclastinib (often shortened to bezu) might fare in mastocytosis against U.S. FDA cleared Ayvakit (avapritinib), the tyrosine kinase inhibitor from Blueprint Medicine Corp., caused the former’s stock (NASDAQ:COGT) to tumble, closing Dec. 11 at $4.06, down $4.58, or 53%. Data from the ongoing phase II Summit trial testing bezu in non-advanced systemic mastocytosis rolled out during the American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting in San Diego. Waltham, Mass.-based Cogent’s prospect turned up a rapid and continuing improvement in patient symptoms, with a 57% median best improvement on Mast Cell Quality-of-Life.
Blueprint Medicines Corp. scored a broader label from the U.S. FDA for Ayvakit (avapritinib), which became the first approved therapy to treat adults with indolent systemic mastocytosis (ISM).
HER2 is a receptor tyrosine kinase and well-established oncogenic driver with mutations present in various types of tumors such as bladder urothelial carcinoma, uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma, stomach adenocarcinoma and breast cancer.
“No good data goes unpunished in this market,” H.C. Wainwright analyst Andrew Fein wryly noted in an Aug. 17 research report highlighting Wall Street’s dismal response to Blueprint Medicines Corp.’s positive top-line readout of the registrational Pioneer study, in which KIT inhibitor Ayvakit (avapritinib) met the primary and all key secondary endpoints in patients with non-advanced systemic mastocytosis.
Analysts have already started tagging Cogent Biosciences Inc.’s bezuclastinib as potentially best in class, after the company presented impressive, though early stage, data at the European Hematology Association Congress in Vienna demonstrating promising efficacy and a possibly differentiating safety profile for the selective KIT D816V inhibitor in advanced systemic mastocytosis.
At the recent American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting, Blueprint Medicines Corp. unveiled results from the registrational phase II Pathfinder study with Ayvakit (avapritinib) in systemic mastocytosis (SM), adding more promise to the KIT inhibitor class.
