National Cancer Institute Renews Grant for Tosk, Inc.s Promising Cancer Drugs
Drug developer Tosk, Inc.,
Silicon Valley Drug Developer Tosk Tackles Mutant Gene Adversely Affecting 40 Percent of All Cancer Patients
Tosk’s scientists are focused on breakthrough therapies that address so-called difficult-to-modulate targets, such as oncogenic kRAS”
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, USA, September 13, 2018 /EINPresswire.com/ -- NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE RENEWS GRANT FOR TOSK, INC’S, PROMISING CANCER KRAS PROGRAM— Biotech veteran Brian Frenzel, Tosk CEO
Mountain View, CA, SEPT. 9, 2018. Tosk, Inc. announced today that the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) has renewed Tosk’s Phase II SIBR grant to support the drug company’s promising kRAS oncogene drug development program, a high priority for the NCI. The renewal provides an additional $1 million of grant funding for the program over a period of one year.
Cancer patients with a mutant kRAS gene — approximately 40 percent of all cancer patients — are unable to benefit from EGFR-inhibitor cancer therapies, such as Erbitux®. Furthermore, mutant kRAS has been estimated to drive 90 percent of pancreatic cancers, 45 percent of colon cancers, 35 percent of lung cancers, and a smaller percentage in other cancers.
Tosk’s scientists are focused on breakthrough therapies that address so-called difficult-to-modulate targets, such as oncogenic kRAS. According to Tosk’s CEO, Brian Frenzel, the kRAS drugs Tosk is developing are designed to selectively block the activity of the oncogenic kRAS gene.
In the SBIR grant, Tosk is collaborating with the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center through Tosk’s Scientific Advisory Board member Prof. Jeff Thomas.
The NCI-supported kRAS program is one of a number of Tosk initiatives. The company currently has three active programs designed to block the painful, debilitating and potentially fatal adverse side effects caused by common cancer treatments. One patented drug, TK-90, has completed trials in head and neck cancer patients with favorable results. TK-90 is designed to prevent mucositis, the inflammation and ulceration of the mucosal membranes lining the digestive tract, a painful, dose-limiting side effect of certain cancer therapies. The company also has programs targeting the cardiotoxicity and kidney toxicity caused by cancer drugs.
For further information, contact Brian Frenzel at info@tosk.com, or +1 408-245-6838. Tosk website: www.tosk.com.
Brian Frenzel
Tosk, Inc.
408 245-6838
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