Verastem

Verastem, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company, which engages in the development and commercialization of drugs for the treatment of cancer. The company is headquartered in Needham, Massachusetts and currently employs 102 full-time employees. The company went IPO on 2011-11-08. Its product candidates include avutometinib and defactinib. Avutometinib is an oral RAF/MEK clamp that inhibits MEK1/2 kinase activities and induces inactive complexes of MEK with A-Raf proto-oncogene, potentially serine/threonine kinase (ARAF), B-Raf proto-oncogene serine/threonine kinase (BRAF) and C-raf proto-oncogene serine/threonine kinase, creating antitumor response through maximal RAS/MAPK pathway inhibition. Defactinib is an oral, selective inhibitor of FAK and proline-rich tyrosine kinase (PYK2), the two members of the focal adhesion kinase family of non-receptor protein tyrosine kinases. FAK and PYK2 integrate signals from integrin and growth factor receptors to regulate cell proliferation.