Bayer AG arm Vividion Therapeutics doses first patient in Phase I study of Inhibitor for advanced solid tumors treatment

Vividion is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, and a wholly owned and independently operated subsidiary of Bayer AG, utilizing innovative discovery technologies to unlock targets with strong disease-link, yet traditionally undruggable and develop small molecule precision therapeutics for devastating cancers and immune disorders.

The new Phase I study (NCT06804824) will evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and preliminary anti-tumor activity of VVD-159642 as a single agent and in combination with either sotorasib or trametinib in patients with advanced solid tumors.

“Despite being a major driver in approximately 20% of cancers, the RAS gene has proven exceptionally difficult to target with drugs, largely due to its essential role in the RAS-PI3Kα signaling pathway, which is vital for healthy cell function,” said Jenna Goldberg, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of Vividion. “VVD-159642 is designed and being studied to selectively prevent RAS activation of the PI3Kα pathway, thus blocking oncogenic signaling without disrupting normal cellular function. Preclinical studies of VVD-159642 give us confidence in its potential to inhibit tumor growth while avoiding the on-target toxicities that have limited prior attempts to drug this important target. In addition to providing a more tolerable alternative to current therapies, we believe that VVD-159642 has potential to treat a broad patient population, including in both RAS-mutant and HER2-overexpressed tumors, and may deliver increased efficacy in combination with other RAS/MAPK pathway inhibitors.”

“We’re excited to bring our fourth innovative oncology asset into the clinic, which not only represents continued validation of Vividion’s covalent-first chemoproteomics platform but also provides a potential new treatment option for patients with RAS-driven cancers,” said Aleksandra Rizo M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Vividion.

“The team at Vividion is rapidly advancing scientific innovations into clinical development that have the potential to address multiple devastating diseases not reachable by current therapies,” said Christian Rommel, Ph.D., Head of Research and Development at Bayer’s Pharmaceuticals Division. “The initiation of this clinical trial marks a significant step forward in leveraging Vividion’s innovative drug discovery approach to target a highly relevant signaling pathway and bring a potential new treatment option to people suffering from difficult-to-treat cancers.”

Vividion also has ongoing Phase I trials evaluating an oral KEAP1 activator in solid tumors and oral STAT3 inhibitor in solid and hematologic malignancies. The company is advancing multiple innovative drug discovery programs toward the clinic and has a rich pipeline of opportunities emerging in early discovery in the fields of oncology and immunology.