ORIC Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ORIC) has announced new clinical trial collaboration and supply agreements with Bayer and Janssen Research & Development, LLC, a division of Johnson & Johnson. The collaborations aim to evaluate the efficacy of ORIC-944 in combination with Bayer's androgen receptor (AR) inhibitor, NUBEQA (darolutamide), and Johnson & Johnson's AR inhibitor, ERLEADA (apalutamide).
In Tuesday's regular trading session, ORIC's stock closed at $10.99, reflecting a gain of $0.24 or 2.23%. The positive momentum continued in after-hours trading, with the stock rising an additional $1.08 or 9.83%.
ORIC has begun dosing ORIC-944—a potent, selective allosteric inhibitor of PRC2—in combination with darolutamide and apalutamide. This is part of the ongoing Phase 1b trial involving patients with metastatic prostate cancer. Each cohort in this trial features a dose escalation phase followed by an expansion phase, specifically evaluating the combinations of ORIC-944 with NUBEQA and ORIC-944 with ERLEADA.
According to the collaboration terms, ORIC will sponsor and conduct the ongoing Phase 1b trial, with Bayer and Johnson & Johnson supplying darolutamide and apalutamide, respectively. ORIC retains full global development and commercial rights to ORIC-944.
