Drug discovery and development company IDEAYA Biosciences has partnered with Merck to evaluate IDE161, a potential cancer therapeutic, in a clinical trial for endometrial cancer patients.

The collaboration aims to examine the effectiveness of IDE161, a potential first-in-class PARG inhibitor, in conjunction with KEYTRUDA, Merck's anti-PD-1 therapy. The trial targets patients with high microsatellite instability and microsatellite-stable endometrial cancer. This partnership is expected to provide an opportunity to explore different treatment combinations beyond the homologous recombination deficient (HRD) setting, thus potentially advancing endometrial cancer therapy. IDEAYA will oversee the clinical trial, while Merck will supply KEYTRUDA. 

Analyst QuickTake: This collaboration follows the partnership the company entered with Gilead Sciences in December 2023 to test the combination of IDE397 and Trodelvy in a Phase I clinical trial for MTAP-deletion bladder cancer.