Kura Oncology

Kura Oncology

Clinical-stage oncology company develops targeted therapies

Overview

Kura Oncology develops precision medicines for cancer, focusing on small-molecule drugs that target tumors with specific genetic mutations. It is in the clinical-stage, researching and developing its own drug candidates to eventually bring them to market. Its leading candidate, ziftomenib, blocks the menin-KMT2A/MLL protein interaction, offering a targeted approach for genetically defined acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The company is also pursuing tipifarnib for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and other solid tumors. By collaborating with academic institutions and other biotech companies, Kura Oncology expands its pipeline and advances therapies through clinical trials. The goal is to deliver effective, targeted cancer treatments for patients with unmet medical needs and to grow its portfolio through research, development, and partnerships.

About Kura Oncology

Simplify's Rating
Why Kura Oncology is rated
B-
Rated B on Competitive Edge
Rated B on Growth Potential
Rated C on Differentiation

Industries

Biotechnology

Healthcare

Company Size

201-500

Company Stage

IPO

Headquarters

San Diego, California

Founded

2014

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Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Q2 2026 KOMZIFTI revenue rose 57%, showing accelerating early commercial traction.
  • Over 95% covered lives have access, and more than 90% top AML accounts engaged.
  • Cash of $519 million plus Kyowa Kirin payments funds AML development through 2028.

What critics are saying

  • KOMET-017 topline data wait until 2028, leaving execution risk for years.
  • KOMZIFTI sales were only $9.1 million in Q2 2026 against $68.3 million losses.
  • Differentiation syndrome and QTc warnings on KOMZIFTI label can depress uptake after launch.

What makes Kura Oncology unique

  • KOMZIFTI won majority new patient starts in NPM1-mutant AML by Q2 2026.
  • Kura's ziftomenib combines strong frontline AML data with once-daily oral dosing.
  • Darlifarnib targets resistance biology across RCC and KRAS combinations, broadening Kura beyond AML.

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Funding

Total Funding

$1.2B

Above

Industry Average

Funded Over

10 Rounds

Private Placement VC funding comparison data is currently unavailable. We're working to provide this information soon!
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Benefits

Health Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

401(k) Retirement Plan

401(k) Company Match

Paid Vacation

Paid Holidays

Paid Paternity/Maternity Leave

Home Office Stipend

Lifestyle Spending Stipend

Commuter Stipend

Wellness Program

Gym Membership

Company Social Events

Stock Price

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

0%

1 year growth

3%

2 year growth

0%
Yahoo Finance
Aug 18th, 2026
Kura Oncology up 14.5% on ziftomenib resistance data and $20.87M Q2 revenue

Kura Oncology's stock rose 14.5% following second-quarter results and publication of preclinical data on its FDA-approved menin inhibitor ziftomenib in the journal Blood. Revenue increased to $20.87 million, though net loss widened to $68.33 million. The Blood study showed ziftomenib retained activity against certain resistance-linked MEN1 mutations in leukaemia models, strengthening scientific confidence in the therapy. The drug is marketed as KOMZIFTI for relapsed or refractory NPM1-mutated AML and is being investigated for broader oncology applications. Despite the positive data, Kura remains unprofitable with substantial quarterly losses. Analyst revenue projections for 2029 range widely, from consensus estimates around $353 million to more optimistic forecasts of $861.5 million, reflecting uncertainty about the company's commercial trajectory.

Yahoo Finance
Aug 13th, 2026
Kura Oncology captures majority of NPM1-mutant AML market share in second quarter despite late entry

Kura Oncology reported $9.1 million in net product revenue for COMZIFTI in Q2 2026, exceeding internal expectations. The company captured majority share of new patient starts in the relapsed/refractory NPM1-mutant AML menin inhibitor market within its second full commercial quarter, despite being second to market. Management attributes the rapid adoption to the product's differentiated profile, including predictable safety and dosing convenience. Physician-initiated combination use accounted for approximately 40% of new patient starts. The company has achieved over 90% engagement with top-priority AML accounts and secured market access covering over 95% of lives. Kura maintained collaboration revenue guidance of $45 million to $55 million for 2026. The pivotal KOMET-017 Phase 3 trial remains on track for top-line results in 2028.

Associated Press
Aug 12th, 2026
Kura Oncology's KOMZIFTI generates $9.1M in Q2, up 57% as it captures majority share in R/R NPM1-mutant AML market

Kura Oncology reported second quarter 2026 financial results, with KOMZIFTI generating $9.1 million in net product revenue, up 57% from the first quarter. The drug also achieved approximately 115 new patient starts, a 35% increase over the previous quarter. KOMZIFTI secured majority share of new patient starts in the relapsed or refractory NPM1-mutant AML menin inhibitor class after two full quarters on the market. The company reported more than 250 total prescriptions in the second quarter, up 59% from the first quarter. Research and development expenses totalled $61.9 million, whilst selling, general and administrative expenses reached $31.8 million. Net loss for the quarter was $68.3 million. As of 30 June 2026, Kura held $519.0 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, plus $180 million in anticipated collaboration payments from Kyowa Kirin.

MarketBeat
Aug 12th, 2026
Kura Oncology Q2 earnings call highlights.

Kura Oncology Q2 earnings call highlights. August 12, 2026 Key points. * KOMZIFTI generated $9.1 million in Q2 revenue, with about 115 new patient starts and more than 250 prescriptions. Kura said the drug captured a majority of new starts in the NPM1-mutated AML menin inhibitor market, supported by broad market access and growing repeat prescribing. * Kura reported encouraging clinical data for ziftomenib combinations, including high response rates in relapsed and frontline AML. The pivotal KOMET-017 trial is enrolling globally, with top-line results still expected in 2028. * The company ended June with $519 million in cash and short-term investments and expects collaboration payments from Kyowa Kirin to help fund the AML program through the anticipated 2028 phase 3 readout. Kura also advanced darlifarnib combinations in renal cell carcinoma and KRAS-mutated cancers. * Five stocks we like better than Kura Oncology. Kura Oncology NASDAQ: KURA reported second-quarter net product revenue of $9.1 million from KOMZIFTI, its treatment for relapsed or refractory NPM1-mutated acute myeloid leukemia, as the company said the drug captured a majority share of new patient starts in the menin inhibitor market for that indication. The company recorded approximately 115 new patient starts and more than 250 total prescriptions during the quarter. Chief Commercial Officer Brian Powl said new patient starts increased about 35% sequentially, while total prescriptions rose about 60% from the prior quarter. He said the prescription growth reflected both repeat prescribing and new prescriptions, without meaningful contributions from inventory stocking or other one-time events. "KOMZIFTI moved into a leadership position in relapsed refractory NPM1-mutated AML menin inhibitor market," President and Chief Executive Officer Troy Wilson said during the earnings call. Kura entered the market after a competitor but said its early share performance indicated that physicians are differentiating among therapies in the class. Commercial launch and market access. Kura said KOMZIFTI adoption expanded across academic and community treatment centers, while repeat prescribing increased and additional accounts began using menin inhibitor therapy. Powl said the company engaged with more than 90% of its top-priority AML accounts during the quarter. Physician-initiated combination use of KOMZIFTI with venetoclax and azacitidine, as well as with FLT3 inhibitors in patients with co-mutations, represented about 40% of new patient starts. The company promotes the product for its approved monotherapy indication, but management said the combination prescribing activity suggests clinicians see potential for the drug alongside other AML treatments. Kura said more than 95% of covered lives have access to KOMZIFTI, with no label restrictions. Powl added that approximately 16 million covered lives have preferred status that requires patients to step through KOMZIFTI before receiving other menin inhibitors. He said prior authorization requirements have not created material access challenges for prescribers. During the question-and-answer session, Wilson said Kura's claim of majority share applies specifically to new patient starts in NPM1-mutated AML. He said the company's 115 new patient starts compared with an estimated 100 NPM1-related starts for its competitor, based on that company's reported total patient starts and stated mix of NPM1 patients. Ziftomenib clinical development. Kura is pursuing a broader development strategy for ziftomenib, the active ingredient in KOMZIFTI, in AML combination regimens and earlier treatment settings. Chief Medical Officer Mollie Leoni highlighted results from the KOMET-007 study of ziftomenib plus venetoclax and azacitidine in relapsed or refractory disease, which were published in Blood before the European Hematology Association meeting. Discover more Stock ratings screener AI infrastructure stocks Among venetoclax-naive patients in that study, Kura reported an 87% overall response rate, a 70% complete remission or complete remission with incomplete hematologic recovery rate, and median overall survival not reached at nearly 11 months of follow-up. At EHA, the company presented long-term data from KOMET-007 evaluating ziftomenib plus 7+3 chemotherapy in 99 patients with newly diagnosed NPM1-mutated and/or KMT2A-rearranged AML. Leoni said the data showed high remission rates and deep responses. The company reported a 96% overall response rate in relapsed or refractory NPM1-mutated AML, 94% overall survival at 12 months, and median overall survival not reached after a median follow-up of 17.6 months. Leoni said ziftomenib did not appear to add meaningful myelosuppression to intensive chemotherapy. Kura believes the dataset is the largest frontline intensive-chemotherapy dataset reported for a menin inhibitor. The pivotal KOMET-017 trial, which includes intensive and non-intensive chemotherapy settings, is enrolling across the U.S., Europe and Asia. Kura said it expects more than 200 sites to be active as enrollment progresses and continues to anticipate top-line results in 2028. The company also expects preliminary data later this year for ziftomenib plus gilteritinib in relapsed or refractory NPM1- and FLT3-mutated AML. It also plans to provide data in the second half of 2026 from a regimen combining ziftomenib, 7+3 chemotherapy and quizartinib, along with updated venetoclax/azacitidine data and an exploratory analysis in other menin-dependent AML subtypes. Darlifarnib program advances in solid tumors. Kura also discussed darlifarnib, a wholly owned precision-oncology asset being developed in combination with targeted therapies. In patients with renal cell carcinoma previously exposed to cabozantinib, darlifarnib plus cabozantinib produced a 44% objective response rate and 94% disease control rate, according to the company. In 34 cabozantinib-naive patients with advanced clear-cell renal cell carcinoma, objective response rates ranged from 33% to 50% across dose levels, and median progression-free survival was 13 months. Kura said the combination's safety profile was manageable. The randomized phase 1b portion of the FIT-001 study is comparing darlifarnib plus cabozantinib with cabozantinib alone in cabozantinib-naive clear-cell renal cell carcinoma. Kura expects enrollment to finish in the first half of 2027 and initial data in the second half of that year. Separately, first-in-human data presented at ASCO for darlifarnib plus adagrasib showed tumor shrinkage in 77% of response-evaluable patients with KRAS G12C-mutated cancers. Kura plans to begin a platform study of darlifarnib plus daraxonrasib in second-line or later KRAS-mutant pancreatic cancer in the first half of 2027. Financial results and outlook. * Collaboration revenue from Kyowa Kirin was $11.8 million, down from $15.3 million a year earlier. * Research and development expense was $61.9 million, compared with $62.8 million in the prior-year quarter. * Selling, general and administrative expense rose to $31.8 million from $25.2 million. * Net loss was $68.3 million, compared with a $66.1 million loss in the second quarter of 2025. * Cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled $519 million as of June 30, down from $667.2 million at year-end 2025. Kura maintained its guidance for collaboration revenue of $45 million to $55 million in 2026, $90 million to $110 million in 2027, and $90 million to $110 million in 2028. The company said its cash balance, together with anticipated $180 million in payments under its Kyowa Kirin collaboration, is expected to fund the ziftomenib AML program through the first anticipated phase 3 KOMET-017 top-line results in 2028. About Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA). Kura Oncology, Inc NASDAQ: KURA is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of targeted oncology therapies. Headquartered in La Jolla, California, the company leverages expertise in molecular biology and precision medicine to identify key drivers of cancer growth and design small-molecule inhibitors that block those pathways. Kura's research platform integrates genomic insights with medicinal chemistry to advance candidates against well-validated targets in solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. The company's lead clinical candidate, tipifarnib, is a farnesyltransferase inhibitor being evaluated for the treatment of HRAS-mutant head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and various non-small cell lung cancers. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. Continue following MarketBeat Before you consider Kura Oncology, you'll want to hear this. MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Kura Oncology wasn't on the list. While Kura Oncology currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. The AI wave will soon hit public markets with Anthropic and OpenAI set to go public later this year. However, you don't have to wait to invest. This report shows seven AI stocks that you can buy today while the big model providers get ready to go public.

Yahoo Finance
Jul 20th, 2026
Kura Oncology shares 65% undervalued as FIT-001 kidney cancer trial data set for presentation

Kura Oncology announced that updated Phase 1a data from its FIT-001 trial in advanced renal cell carcinoma will be presented at the 2026 Kidney Cancer Research Summit. The biotech's shares have shown mixed recent performance, with a 70.75% one-year return contrasting with a 5.15% decline over seven days. Analysts peg the company's fair value at $31.17 per share, well above its last close of $10.86. This valuation assumes successful FDA approval and commercial launch of ziftomenib for relapsed/refractory NPM1-mutant AML. However, Kura Oncology continues to report losses of $294.57 million. Its price-to-sales ratio of 13.5 times exceeds the US biotechs average of 11.3 times, suggesting elevated market expectations despite ongoing clinical and regulatory risks.

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