No new responses for Oric

ORIC-944, a PRC2 inhibitor licensed from Mirati for just $20m in stock, has helped Oric’s market cap exceed $1bn, so you can understand why the company is pedalling hard to convince investors that it’s better than Pfizer’s mevrometostat. However, the latest update from a phase 1 study combining ORIC-944 with Erleada or Nubeqa in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer has seen the data worsen versus what Oric reported in June, with the confirmed PSA50 response rate waning from 47% to 40%. True, the patient numbers are small, and the result is still above mevrometostat’s 34% on a cross-trial basis, but the fact remains that three new patients have been treated, and none has responded. The next stage is for Oric to report dose-optimisation data from this study in the first quarter, before starting a pivotal trial in the second half of 2026. Though Pfizer’s mevrometostat is an EZH2 rather than PRC2 inhibitor, the two mechanisms are closely related, and the projects are being tested in similar settings, with mevrometostat already in phase 3. In August Oric cut 20% of its workforce to stretch cash into 2028, until after the expected readout of its pivotal ORIC-944 trial.

How ORIC-944 squares up to mevrometostat

Source: OncologyPipeline.