<div id="readability-page-1"><div>Volastra Therapeutics Announces Biomarker and Combination Data around AACR 2026 Defining an Rb Pathway-Driven Pan-Cancer Development Strategy for KIF18A Inhibitors<ul> <li> p16 Loss – a marker of Rb pathway inactivation – Identified as a Candidate Predictive Biomarker for KIF18A Inhibition </li> <li> Data Support Development Across Multiple Tumor Types and in Combination with Standard Therapies </li> </ul> Volastra Therapeutics, a clinical-stage oncology company pioneering therapies targeting chromosomal instability (CIN), today announced multiple scientific disclosures coinciding with the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2026, taking place April 17–22 in San Diego, California. The data define an Rb pathway–driven pan-cancer development framework for KIF18A inhibitors and highlight a proprietary p16 IHC biomarker approach designed to translate that strategy clinically, reinforcing Volastra’s leadership in advancing CIN biology into therapeutic opportunity. Separate from its AACR 2026 presentation, Volastra has posted “KIF18A Inhibition as a Therapeutic Strategy in Cancers with Rb Pathway Inactivation” (Andreu et al. DOI: https://zenodo.org/records/19616790 - preprint publication). Drawing on what is believed to be one of the largest datasets of its kind, the work identifies Rb pathway inactivation as the mechanistic basis of response to KIF18A inhibition and establishes a development path that extends well beyond high-grade serous ovarian cancer. The study includes clinical data from a substantial cohort of 79 heavily pretreated patients with high-grade serous ovarian cancer treated with either of two distinct KIF18A inhibitors, sovilnesib and VLS-1488. The concordance of the biomarker-defined signal across both agents is particularly compelling and argues against a drug-specific observation. Biomarker-positive tumors were distinguished by marked enrichment for objective responses, durable disease control, and longer progression-free survival, yielding a sharp clinical separation from biomarker-negative disease and strongly supporting both the biomarker strategy and prospective clinical development. These findings reposition KIF18A inhibition from a histology-defined opportunity into a pan-cancer synthetic lethal strategy centered on one of the most commonly disrupted tumor suppressor pathways in human cancer. This creates a credible path across what is estimated to represent approximately 15% of human cancers. Within that biology, Volastra has identified a proprietary p16 IHC biomarker strategy that enriches for response to its KIF18A inhibitors and provides a practical route to clinical translation. “The data provide a strong scientific rationale for using p16 status to identify patients most likely to benefit from KIF18A inhibition,” said David Southwell, Chief Executive Officer of Volastra Therapeutics. “Importantly, this work reframes KIF18A inhibition from a narrow single cancer-type opportunity into a broader pan-cancer strategy grounded in Rb pathway biology. This p16 biomarker approach provides a practical way to translate that insight into clinical development and patient selection.” AACR Poster Highlights Clear Synergy with Taxanes and Other Microtubule-Targeting Agents Volastra will also present an official AACR poster titled “Combination of VLS-1488 and taxanes induces anti-tumor synergistic effect in cancer cells” in the Experimental and Molecular Therapeutics, Novel Antitumor Agents 1 Session on April 19 from 2-5PM Pacific Time (PT) (Poster section 17, poster 18). The presentation will highlight preclinical combination data showing clear synergistic activity between KIF18A inhibition and taxanes and other microtubule-targeting agents. These findings support a development strategy that could extend KIF18A inhibitors into earlier lines of therapy, including combination approaches in frontline settings. “The totality of these data help define both the monotherapy and combination development paths for KIF18A inhibitors,” said Samuel F. Bakhoum, M.D., Ph.D., Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Volastra Therapeutics. “With this new mechanistic understanding of KIF18A inhibitor sensitivity, it is evident that the biomarker data will help us identify patients most likely to benefit from monotherapy, while the combination findings point to a precision-based approach to identify the most rational therapeutic partners for development in earlier line settings.” Separately, Dr. Bakhoum, also an adjunct faculty member at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, will chair an AACR educational session “Chromosomal Instability in Cancer: From Mechanism to Therapy and Clinical Translation” on Saturday, April 18, 2026, in his academic capacity. The session reflects the field’s growing appreciation of CIN as both a driver of aggressive disease and a source of therapeutic vulnerability. “This momentum underscores the growing recognition of CIN biology and the increasing importance of CIN-directed therapeutic strategies across oncology,” Dr. Bakhoum said. About Volastra Therapeutics Volastra Therapeutics is a New York-based clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering novel approaches to treating cancer by targeting tumor vulnerability known as chromosomal instability, or CIN. The company was founded in 2019 by Samuel Bakhoum, M.D., Ph.D., Lewis Cantley, Ph.D., and Olivier Elemento, Ph.D., and is funded by Eli Lilly &amp; Company, B Capital, ARCH Venture Partners, Polaris Partners, Droia Ventures, Vida Ventures, and Catalio Capital Management. Volastra is developing new approaches to understand the biology of chromosomal instability and applying those insights to drive a pipeline of therapies against novel targets. The company leads the field with two differentiated clinical-stage KIF18A inhibitors, VLS-1488 and sovilnesib, formerly AMG-650, along with a robust discovery pipeline. For more information, please visit www.volastratx.com. <img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT/query-ZGlzdHJvPW54JmlkPWJ3bmV3cyZsYW5nPWVuJnNpZD1tc3RyMyZzdHk9MjAyNjA0MTc4ODY2MjNyMQ?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT/query-ZGlzdHJvPW54JmlkPWJ3bmV3cyZsYW5nPWVuJnNpZD1tc3RyMyZzdHk9MjAyNjA0MTc4ODY2MjNyMQ"/> Investor Relations/Media Contact: Sasha Damouni Damouni Group, LLC. sasha@damounigroup.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260417886623/en/</div></div>

標普全球醫療股指數 ETF - iShares

2 倍做空納斯達克生物技術 ETF - ProShares

標普生物技術 ETF - SPDR

Volastra Therapeutics 宣佈了與 KIF18A 抑制劑相關的重要發現，提前發佈於 2026 年 AACR 年會。該公司確定了 p16 缺失作為 KIF18A 抑制的預測生物標誌物，支持其在多種腫瘤類型中的開發。數據表明，基於 Rb 通路生物學的全癌症策略具有前景，來自一項涉及重度預處理卵巢癌患者的研究結果令人鼓舞。此外，臨牀前數據表明 KIF18A 抑制劑與紫杉烷之間存在協同作用，顯示出早期治療的潛力。Volastra 旨在利用這些見解進行臨牀開發和患者選擇

Volastra Therapeutics Announces Biomarker and Combination Data around AACR 2026 Defining an Rb Pathway-Driven Pan-Cancer Development Strategy for KIF18A Inhibitors

MorningStar

納斯達克生物科技指數 ETF - iShares Nasdaq

Invesco Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF

國泰中證生物醫藥ETF

華寶中證醫療ETF

招商中證生物科技主題ETF

標普生物技術 3 倍做多 - Direxion

基因改革 ETF - ARK

2 倍做多納斯達克生物技術 ETF - ProShares

美國制藥 ETF - iShares

生物科技 ETF - VanEck Vectors

易方達中證生物科技主題ETF

華夏醫藥ETF

美國醫藥設備 ETF - iShares

易方達滬深300醫藥ETF

生物科技ETF基金

華夏中證生物科技主題ETF

Volastra Therapeutics 宣佈在 AACR 2026 會議上，圍繞 Rb 通路驅動的 KIF18A 抑制劑的泛癌症開發策略，發佈了生物標誌物和組合數據