On October 7, 2021 Recursion (NASDAQ: RXRX), a clinical-stage biotechnology company decoding biology by integrating technological innovations across biology, chemistry, automation, machine learning and engineering, reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted the company Fast Track designation for the investigation of REC-2282 for treatment of patients with NF2-mutated meningiomas, including neurofibromatosis type-2 disease-related meningiomas (Press release, Recursion Pharmaceuticals, OCT 7, 2021, View Source [SID1234590918]). REC-2282 is a potentially first-in-class, orally bioavailable, CNS-penetrant small molecule HDAC inhibitor being developed for the treatment of NF2-mutated meningiomas.

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The FDA’s Fast Track designation was established to expedite the review of investigational drugs to treat serious conditions and address unmet medical needs by enabling important drugs to get to patients earlier if approved. Fast Track designation can lead to more frequent interactions with the FDA, as well as Accelerated Approval and/or Priority Review eligibility if certain criteria are met.

"The Fast Track designation for REC-2282 is an important addition to our work to develop this medicine to treat patients with neurofibromatosis type-2 and patients with sporadic meningiomas driven by mutations in the NF2 gene, for which there is a significant unmet need," said Recursion Chief Medical Officer Ramona Doyle, M.D. "I am pleased that the team continues to advance this important medicine towards a Phase 2/3, randomized, multi-center study in patients with NF2-mutated meningiomas, for which we expect to begin enrollment early next year."

Meningiomas are primary tumors of the meninges of the central nervous system. More than 34,000 patients are diagnosed with sporadic meningiomas in the US each year. In patients with progressive meningiomas, more than a third are driven by mutations in the gene NF2. NF2-mutated meningiomas are typically treated with surgery and radiotherapy or with off-label therapies of limited or unproven efficacy. The lack of approved therapies to prevent progression of NF2-mutated meningiomas, which are frequently an aggressive tumor type, represents a significant unmet medical need. In addition, the syndrome neurofibromatosis type-2, which is associated with both sporadic and autosomal dominant inherited mutations in the NF2 gene, gives rise to meningiomas in approximately half of neurofibromatosis type-2 patients. In the US and EU5, neurofibromatosis type-2 affects approximately 33,000 patients and there are no approved therapies.