Experts Examine Tipifarnib to Treat HNSCC With HRAS Mutations

Tipifarnib, a farnesyltransferase inhibitor, was developed 20 years ago but has yet to flnd the right patient population who derive a strong beneflt, said Perez, a head and neck medical oncologist and director of drug development at Sarah Cannon Research Institute at Florida Cancer Specialists. "The fact that we do have some data in a small study that show that we might be able to target this gene is very compelling. According to Villaflor, the development of targeted therapies for patients with HNSCC has been difficult because of the interrelation of the KRAS, NRAS, and HRAS mutations, adding that the results of this research may support increased genomic testing and ultimately drive further investigation.2 "We have been studying HRAS, and all the RAS pathways, in head-andneck cancer for a couple of decades, but it wasn't until now that they caught it.