Kura Oncology

Kura Oncology is a biopharmaceutical company focused on precision medicines for cancer, developing small-molecule agents that target cancer signaling pathways and other molecular drivers of disease. Its stated mission is to help patients with cancer achieve longer, better lives through targeted therapies, with disease focus areas including acute leukemias, head and neck cancer and lung cancer. The company describes its strategy as combining targeted agents with standards of care to counter treatment resistance, and using tumor genomic profiling, biomarker discovery and patient-selection strategies to expand the populations that may benefit from precision therapies.

The pipeline is organized around two main mechanistic classes. The menin inhibitor ziftomenib, marketed as KOMZIFTI, has been approved by the U.S. FDA for adult patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with a susceptible NPM1 mutation who have no satisfactory alternative treatment options; it is additionally being studied in registrational trials in frontline NPM1-mutated or KMT2A-rearranged AML in combination with 7+3 intensive chemotherapy and with venetoclax/azacitidine, and in Phase 1 studies in combinations with quizartinib, gilteritinib, FLAG-IDA and LDAC, as monotherapy in non-NPM1-m/non-KMT2A-r AML and in KMT2A-r acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and in combination with imatinib in advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors. The company states ziftomenib is being investigated across up to 50% of AMLs spanning NPM1-m, KMT2A-r and FLT3-m disease. The farnesyl transferase inhibitor (FTI) franchise includes darlifarnib (KO-2806), an investigational next-generation FTI in Phase 1 dose expansion with cabozantinib in renal cell carcinoma and in Phase 1 dose escalation with adagrasib in NSCLC, colorectal cancer and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, and tipifarnib, an oral FTI in a registration-enabling combination with alpelisib in PIK3CA-dependent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. A next-generation menin inhibitor (KO-7246) is at the research stage, directed at diabetes and cardiometabolic disease.

The company's name is drawn from the Kura River in southwestern Asia, presented as a metaphor for its drug discovery history and the molecular pathways it targets.

Business model

Kura Oncology discovers and develops proprietary small-molecule cancer therapeutics, advancing them through clinical trials toward regulatory approval and commercialization; its first product, KOMZIFTI (ziftomenib), has received U.S. FDA approval. The company also partners its assets, having entered a global strategic collaboration with Kyowa Kirin Co., Ltd. and Kyowa Kirin, Inc. in November 2024 to develop and commercialize ziftomenib in AML and other hematologic malignancies.

Revenue is expected from sales of approved therapeutics such as KOMZIFTI (ziftomenib) and from its global strategic collaboration with Kyowa Kirin for ziftomenib in AML and other hematologic malignancies; the sources do not disclose revenue figures.

Traction

KOMZIFTI (ziftomenib) has been approved by the U.S. FDA for adults with relapsed or refractory NPM1-mutant AML, and multiple registrational and Phase 1 combination trials are ongoing across AML, ALL and several solid tumors. A November 2024 global strategic collaboration with Kyowa Kirin supports ziftomenib development and commercialization.

Latest developments

On August 17, 2026, President and CEO Troy Edward Wilson disclosed in a Form 4 filing an open-market purchase of 100,000 Kura Oncology common shares at a weighted average price of $11.12 (trades between $10.87 and $11.31), totaling roughly $1.1 million; shares rose about 5.4% in after-hours trading. After the purchase he held 379,194 shares indirectly through the One Fish Two Fish Revocable Trust, 300,000 shares through the Lorax Charitable Remainder Unitrust and 435,456 shares directly.