Marking a Subgroup

Although Syndax Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s entinostat failed the Phase II ENCORE 401 trial, the company believes it has a path forward in non-small cell lung cancer based on data from a predefined subgroup of patients with a marker for epithelial tumors. Syndax hopes to start a randomized trial of the HDAC inhibitor in this NSCLC subgroup this year, but needs to raise money first.

NSCLC tumors become resistant to therapies not just via mutations, but also via decreased sensitivity that results from the process of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), according to President and CEO Joanna Horobin. For example, Tarceva erlotinib works best in patients whose tumors are epithelial in nature, she said...