OnKure Therapeutics has put another piece of its C-suite in place, hiring Jennifer Diamond, M.D., as chief medical officer to support clinical development of its pipeline of cancer medicines.
Since raising a $55 million series B round in March, OnKure has built out its leadership team with a series of key hires. James Winkler, Ph.D., and Duncan Walker, Ph.D., came on board as chief scientific officer and chief development officer, respectively, over the summer to address two gaps in the team. Now, OnKure has secured expertise in early-phase clinical trials through the appointment of Diamond.
OnKure hired Diamond on the strength of her work on phase 1 and breast cancer research programs at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, where she is the founding co-director of the women’s cancer developmental therapeutics program.
“Her vast knowledge of conducting early-stage trials for novel oncology therapeutics, as well as her experience exploring novel combination strategies, will be vital as we continue to build and advance our broad pipeline of best-in-class precision medicines,” OnKure CEO Tony Piscopio said in a statement.
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At OnKure, Diamond will oversee the development of a pipeline led by OKI-179, a HDAC inhibitor the biotech is studying in solid tumor patients in collaboration with the University of Colorado. Diamond is the principal investigator on the phase 1 clinical trial. Next year, OnKure plans to start a phase 2 study to test OKI-179 in combination with Pfizer’s Mektovi in melanoma patients.
The study will test the idea that combining the two agents may enhance the clinical benefit of MAPK inhibition in melanomas that harbor a NRAS mutation. Array BioPharma filed for FDA approval of binimetinib, the molecule that became Mektovi, in NRAS patients in 2016 but pulled the filing after getting feedback from the agency. Mektovi later came to market in patients with BRAF mutations.