IDEAYA (IDYA) Braces For Busy Year - MUM's The Word, Stock Up Over 20%

(RTTNews) - IDEAYA Biosciences Inc. (IDYA), an oncology-focused precision medicine company, has a couple of clinical trial catalysts lined up for this year.

The Company's lead drug candidate is IDE196, a protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor, being developed for the treatment of cancers with GNAQ and GNA11 mutations, including metastatic uveal melanoma (MUM), under a license from Novartis (NVS).

Uveal melanoma, or cancer of the eye, is a rare disease for which there are no FDA-approved therapies. About 90% of uveal melanoma patients harbor activating GNAQ or GNA11 mutation and roughly 50% of uveal melanoma patients get metastatic disease, primarily to the liver.

A phase I/II basket trial with IDE196 in patients with solid tumors harboring GNAQ/11 mutations or PRKC fusions is underway, with the release of interim data expected in Q2/Q3 2020. As of December 6, 2019, a total of 40 patients were enrolled in the phase I portion of the phase I/II basket trial.

The Company is planning to initiate a phase II single-arm potentially registration-enabling clinical trial of IDE196 in metastatic uveal melanoma (MUM) in Q1 2020.

A pharmacokinetic phase I clinical sub-study with immediate-release tablet formulation of IDE196 is on track to be initiated this month, in support of potential introduction of the tablet in the phase II clinical trial in Q1 2020.

A phase I/II clinical trial of IDE196 in combination with a MEK inhibitor in patients with metastatic uveal melanoma is expected to be initiated in the first half of this year.

As of September 30, 2019, the Company's cash, cash equivalents, and short-term marketable securities were $109.4 million - anticipated to be sufficient to fund planned operations into the third quarter of 2021.

IDEAYA Biosciences went public on the Nasdaq Global Market on May 23, 2019, offering its shares at a price of $10 each. The stock, which opened the first day of trading at $14, has thus far hit a low of $4.89 and a high of $16.90.

IDYA closed Thursday's (Jan.2, 2020) trading at $9.14, up 21.87%.