Ep204: Troy Wilson on Precision Cancer Drugs and Combos
Troy Wilson, CEO of San Diego-based Kura Oncology, on his career in biotech and developing targeted cancer drugs.
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Kura Oncology
Search every verified Troy Wilson interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Troy Wilson, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Kura Oncology, discussed the company’s progress in developing targeted cancer therapies on the podcast "The Long Run," published June 30, 2026. He described the FDA approval of the company’s drug ziftomenib, an oral menin inhibitor, in November 2025 for certain acute myeloid leukemia patients with specific genetic alterations, and noted Kura’s efforts to expand its use to a broader patient population. Wilson also discussed the company’s second drug candidate, darlofarnib, a farnesyltransferase inhibitor, and said Kura plans to combine it with deroxonrasib in second-line pancreatic ductal carcinoma, citing data from Revolution Medicines that doubled survival but still left median overall survival at 13 months, which he characterized as insufficient. Wilson reflected on his philosophy of founding startups to develop novel drug ideas that might otherwise compete for resources at larger companies, and expressed enthusiasm for Kura’s in-person work culture, saying he rarely returns home from work without feeling excited.
Troy Wilson, CEO of San Diego-based Kura Oncology, on his career in biotech and developing targeted cancer drugs.
Troy Wilson, Kura Oncology, talks about embracing innovation in pursuit of finding cures for cancer.
Kura Oncology CEO Troy Wilson spoke with Informa Pharma Intelligence at BioPharm America 2016 about his company's precision medicine approach to treating cancer. Its most advanced drug candidate, tipifarnib showed promising clinical activity in a Phase II trial in HRAS-expressing solid tumors such as head-and-neck squamous cell carcinoma and salivary gland cancer. He talked about the potential importance of these data because HRAS mutation cancers have no currently approved drug therapy. The La Jolla, Calif.-based company also is working toward filing an IND for a second clinical candidate, an…
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