Kura Oncology gains rights to Janssen's tipifarnib

USA-based clinical-stage drug developer Kura Oncology has entered into an agreement with Janssen Pharmaceutica, a subsidiary of health care giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), for an exclusive license to develop and commercialize tipifarnib in the field of oncology.

Tipifarnib, a protein farnesyl transferase inhibitor, is a Phase II-ready program that has demonstrated encouraging clinical activity in certain cancer patient populations and that may be further optimized using an appropriate patient selection strategy. J&J discovered tipifarnib, and tested the drug in a wide variety of cancers, with mostly disappointing results in colorectal, lung (both non-small cell and small cell), brain, pancreatic, and urothelial cancers.

Under the terms of the agreement, Kura Oncology assumes sole responsibility for development and commercialization of tipifarnib in the field of oncology. Kura Oncology intends to advance tipifarnib into Phase II clinical trials in 2015 to evaluate its activity in patient populations where certain solid tumors are driven by activating mutation in the oncogene HRAS as well as in patients with hematologic malignancies. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.