Presage Biosciences Announces New Pharma Partnership to Evaluate Novel Immuno-Oncology Drug Combinations with CIVO® Technology

On November 30, 2023 Presage Biosciences, a pioneering translational oncology company whose mission is to use CIVO and spatial molecular profiling to understand the complexity of drug response in the tumor microenvironment (TME), reported to have entered into an agreement with AstraZeneca (LSE/STO/Nasdaq: AZN), a global biopharmaceutical company (Press release, Presage Biosciences, NOV 30, 2023, View Source [SID1234638076]). According to the agreement, Presage’s platform will be used by AstraZeneca in translational analysis to evaluate several investigational bispecific antibody combinations in samples taken from head and neck cancer patients. The work will contribute to advancing AstraZeneca’s growing portfolio of immuno-oncology agents looking to harness the immune system against cancer.

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Rich Klinghoffer, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Presage, said: "Prior studies have demonstrated that the CIVO platform provides accurate guidance about the therapeutic potential of novel agents in the only context that matters: Fully intact patient tumors. We are very pleased to be working with an innovator like AstraZeneca and supporting their quest to discover, develop, and deliver transformative medicines to patients."

Earlier this month, Presage presented results from a completed Phase 0 study evaluating Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab) alone and in combination with other immune-oncology agents at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) (Free SITC Whitepaper) 2023 Annual Meeting. The study enrolled patients across six US-based cancer centers in both soft tissue sarcoma and head and neck cancer. Study data highlight the importance of evaluating novel therapies in patient tumors and revealed a contradiction between results from in-vivo animal studies versus results in the intact TME.

"For too long, we have put our trust in laboratory models of cancer that do not capture the complexity of the intact TME," said Klinghoffer. "The CIVO technology was developed to address this fundamental issue in cancer drug development and the results from this study demonstrate the true power of our platform – the ability to know, early in development, how a drug impacts patient tumors."

KEYTRUDA is a registered trademark of Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA.

Adela Presents Data Demonstrating Strong Prognostic Prediction Capabilities in Lung Cancer at the 2023 Multidisciplinary Thoracic Cancers Symposium

On November 30, 2023 Adela, Inc., an innovator in blood testing for minimal residual disease monitoring and early cancer detection through a proprietary genome-wide methylome approach, reported data demonstrating the feasibility of using its platform for cfDNA cancer signal quantification and prognostic prediction in early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), during the Plenary Abstract Session at the 2023 Multidisciplinary Thoracic Cancers Symposium in New Orleans (Press release, Adela, NOV 30, 2023, View Source [SID1234638075]). In samples from patients with newly-diagnosed NSCLC, collected at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre at University Health Network, cancer signal from cfDNA was detected and quantified using Adela’s platform, and recurrence-free survival was compared between samples with high and low cfDNA cancer signal.

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"Significant progress is being made in the field of oncology to develop additional adjuvant treatment options for patients with early-stage NSCLC. To maximize the benefit of these novel therapies on patient outcomes, clinicians need additional tools to stratify patients with NSCLC based on their likelihood of relapsing," said Geoffrey Liu, MSc, MD, Senior Scientist, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre at University Health Network. "The genome-wide methylome platform has the potential to be a meaningful tool to help predict a patient’s likelihood of recurrence in NSCLC, if the results presented today demonstrating strong prognostic prediction are replicated in future studies that include post-treatment samples."

In individuals with newly diagnosed stage I-II NSCLC, cfDNA cancer signal was quantified in 41 pre-treatment samples with a median follow-up time of 55.8 months. Individuals with higher quantities of cfDNA cancer signal prior to treatment had a significantly worse recurrence-free survival [hazard ratio (HR) 2.70 (95% CI 1.26, 5.78), log-rank P = 0.008].

"These data build upon Adela’s existing body of evidence in Head & Neck Cancer and Renal Cell Carcinoma, demonstrating that our genome-wide methylome enrichment platform has strong prognostic prediction across multiple cancer types," said Anne-Renee Hartman, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Adela. "In NSCLC, acquiring a tumor tissue sample for patients is often not possible. Our tissue-agnostic blood test, in development for predicting outcomes and informing adjuvant treatment decisions following surgery, will increase accessibility of MRD testing for patients and clinicians."

Presentation Details

Prognostic Performance of a Genome-Wide Methylome Enrichment Platform in Early-Stage Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)

Presenter: Geoffrey Liu, MD, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre at University Health Network

Scientific Session Title: Plenary Abstract Session

Session Date/Time: Thursday, November 30, 1:30 – 3:00 pm CT

Innovent Presents Clinical Data Update of IBI351 (KRAS G12C Inhibitor) Monotherapy in Lung Cancer and Colorectal Cancer at ESMO Asia Congress 2023

On November 30, 2023 Innovent Biologics, Inc. ("Innovent") (HKEX: 01801), a world-class biopharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and commercializes high-quality medicines for the treatment of oncology, metabolic, autoimmune, ophthalmology and other major diseases, reported the publication of updated clinical data of IBI351 (KRAS G12C inhibitor) monotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and colorectal cancer (CRC) at the European Society for Medical Oncology Asia Congress (ESMO Asia) 2023, held during December 1-3 in Singapore (Press release, Innovent Biologics, NOV 30, 2023, View Source [SID1234638074]). The data from a registrational Phase II study of IBI351 for NSCLC is accepted as a LBA (Late-breaking abstracts) program. The New Drug Application (NDA) for IBI351 monotherapy treating NSCLC was recently accepted by China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) and granted Priority Review Designation.

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Presentation title: Efficacy and safety of IBI351 (GFH925), a selective KRAS G12C inhibitor, monotherapy in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with KRAS G12C mutation: initial results from a registrational phase II study

Abstract #: LBA12

IBI351 (GFH925) is a selective, covalent and irreversible KRAS G12C inhibitor. The data presented was from a single-arm Phase 2 registration clinical study (NCT05005234) in advanced NSCLC patients harbouring KRAS G12C mutation who have received at least one systemic therapy.

As data cutoff date (June 13, 2023), a total of 116 NSCLC subjects were enrolled and evaluable:

IBI351 demonstrated encouraging antitumor activity. The confirmed objective response rate (ORR) assessed by the Independent Imaging Review Committee (IRRC) was 46.6% (95%CI: 37.2-56.0), meeting the primary endpoint. Disease control rate (DCR) was 90.5% (95%CI: 83.7, 95.2). The median duration of response (DoR) was 8.3 months, and 53.7% (29/54) of participants with tumor response were still on treatment. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 8.3 months (95%CI: 5.6-10.4), and median survival (OS) was not yet reached.
IBI351 was well tolerated in general. As data cutoff, about 90.5% (105/116) of subjects had treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs), most were grade 1-2. The most common TRAEs were anemia, alanine aminotransferase increased, aspartate aminotransferase increased, asthenia and protein urine present. About 40.5% of subjects had grade 3 or higher TRAEs.
Professor Yi-Long Wu, Leading Principal Investigator of the study, from Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, stated: "KRAS mutation as the ‘undruggable’ target for decades has become one of the most popular directions for clinical development recently. Although FDA has approved KRAS G12C targeted drugs overseas, there’s no drug approved in China. IBI351 is China’s first KRAS G12C inhibitor with NDA acceptance. As a selective, covalent and irreversible KRAS G12C inhibitor, IBI351 has demonstrated excellent efficacy and manageable safety in pivotal Phase 2 study. We look forward to the approval of this drug to benefit more NSCLC patients harbouring KRAS G12C mutation who have received at least one systemic therapy."

Presentation title: Efficacy and safety of IBI351(GFH925) monotherapy in metastatic colorectal cancer harboring KRAS G12C mutation: updated results from a pooled analysis of two phase I studies

Abstract #: 106P

IBI351 (GFH925) is a specific selective, covalent and irreversible KRAS G12C inhibitor. The updated data presented is based on the pooled analysis of two ongoing clinical studies (NCT05005234, NCT05497336) with extended follow-up.

As of June 13, 2023, a total of 56 patients with advanced CRC were enrolled (3 in the 700mg QD dose group, 4 in the 450mg BID dose group, 48 in the 600mg BID dose group, and 1 in the 750mg BID dose group).

For 600mg BID patients (n=48), confirmed ORR was 45.8% and DCR was 89.6%. Median DoR was not reached, and the 6 month DoR rate was 65.5%. Median PFS was 7.6 months. Median OS has not yet been reached, with a 6month OS rate of 91.1%.
For 600mg BID patients with at least two lines of prior treatment (n=27), cORR and DCR were 63.0% and 88.9%, respectively.
TRAEs occurred in 94.6% patients while majority of them were grade 1-2. The most common TRAEs were anamia, white blood cell count decreased, blood bilirubin increased, pruritus, neutrophil count decreased, aspartate aminotransferase increased, and gamma-glutamyl transferase increased. Grade 3 TRAEs occurred in 23.2% patients. No grade 4-5 TRAEs or TRAEs leading to treatment discontinuation occurred.
Professor Ying Yuan, Leading Principal Investigator of the study, from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine stated: "Advanced colorectal cancer patients with KRAS G12C mutation have poor prognosis and short survival time with limited existing treatment methods; there is an urgent unmet clinical need. IBI351 as a selective covalent irreversible KRAS G12C inhibitor, its monotherapy has demonstrated outstanding efficacy and manageable safety in advanced colorectal cancer with KRAS G12C mutation. We look forward to more positive results update from this study."

Dr. Hui Zhou, Senior Vice President of Innovent, stated: "We are pleased to present our clinical development updates at the 2023 ESMO (Free ESMO Whitepaper) Asia Congress. Based on the encouraging efficacy and safety data shown in the registrational Phase 2 trial in lung cancer, IBI351 has recently successfully received NDA acceptance by the NMPA of China with the Priority Review designation. We will continue to explore the clinical development of IBI351 monotherapy and combination therapy in the fields of lung cancer, colorectal cancer and other solid tumors to benefit more cancer patients ."

About IBI351 (KRAS G12C Inhibitor)

RAS protein family can be divided into KRAS, HRAS and NRAS categories. KRAS mutation are detected in nearly 90% of pancreatic cancer, 30-40% of colon cancer, and 15-20% lung cancer patients. The occurrence of KRAS G12C mutation subset is more frequently observed than those with ALK, ROS1, RET and TRK 1/2/3 mutations combined.

IBI351 is a novel, orally active, potent KRAS G12C inhibitor designed to effectively target the GTP/GDP exchange, an essential step in pathway activation, by modifying the cysteine residue of KRAS G12C protein covalently and irreversibly. Preclinical cysteine selectivity studies demonstrated high selectivity of IBI351 towards G12C. Subsequently, IBI351 effectively inhibits the downstream signal pathway to induce tumor cells’ apoptosis and cell cycle arrest.

In September 2021, Innovent and GenFleet Therapeutics entered into an exclusive license agreement for the development and commercialization of IBI351 (GenFleet R&D code: GFH925) in China (including mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) with additional option-in rights for global development and commercialization.

In January 2023, the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) for IBI351 for the treatment of patients with advanced NSCLC harboring KRAS G12C mutation who have received at least one systemic therapy. In May 2023, the CDE of China’s NMPA granted another BTD for IBI351 for the treatment of advanced CRC patients with KRAS G12C mutation who have received at least two systemic therapies. In November 2023, the CDE of NMPA accepted and granted Priority Review designation to the NDA for IBI351 for the treatment of advanced NSCLC patients harboring KRAS G12C mutation who have received at least one systemic therapy.

Sarepta Therapeutics Announces Inducement Grants Under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4)

On November 30, 2023 Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT), the leader in precision genetic medicine for rare diseases, reported equity awards on November 30, 2023 that were previously approved by the Compensation Committee of its Board of Directors under Sarepta’s 2014 Employment Commencement Incentive Plan, as a material inducement to employment to 13 individuals hired by Sarepta in November 2023 (Press release, Sarepta Therapeutics, NOV 30, 2023, View Source [SID1234638073]). The equity awards were approved in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635©(4).

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The employees received, in the aggregate, options to purchase 14,250 shares of Sarepta’s common stock, and in the aggregate 7,350 restricted stock units ("RSUs"). The options have an exercise price of $81.28 per share, which is equal to the closing price of Sarepta’s common stock on November 30, 2023 (the "Grant Date"). One-fourth of the shares underlying each employee’s option will vest on the one-year anniversary of the Grant Date and thereafter 1/48th of the shares underlying each employee’s option will vest monthly, such that the shares underlying the option granted to each employee will be fully vested on the fourth anniversary of the Grant Date, in each case, subject to each such employee’s continued employment with Sarepta on such vesting dates.

One-fourth of the RSUs will vest yearly on each anniversary of the Grant Date, such that the RSUs granted to each employee will be fully vested on the fourth anniversary of the Grant Date, in each case, subject to each such employee’s continued employment with Sarepta on such vesting date.

FDA Grants Lantern Pharma Orphan Drug Designation for Drug Candidate LP-284 in High-Grade B-cell Lymphomas (HGBL)

On November 30, 2023 Lantern Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: LTRN), an artificial intelligence ("AI") company developing targeted and transformative cancer therapies using its proprietary RADR AI and machine learning ("ML") platform with multiple clinical-stage drug programs, reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted LP-284 Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) for the treatment of high-grade B-cell lymphoma with MYC and BCL2 rearrangements (Press release, Lantern Pharma, NOV 30, 2023, View Source [SID1234638072]).

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HGBL represents a rare and aggressive form of B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) with no established standard of care treatment approach. Typically, frontline intervention involves a combination of chemo-immunotherapies such as R-CHOP or DA-R-EPOCH. However, approximately 20-30% of HGBL patients stop responding to these therapeutic agents and continue cancer progression. For those with relapsed or refractory (R/R) disease, the survival prognosis is 8.6 to 16 months (Laude et al., 2021). This underscores the pressing clinical need for novel and effective therapies in treating HGBL and improving patient outcomes.

LP-284 is a novel small molecule agent that damages DNA in cancer cells leading to the death of cancer cells. Lantern is developing LP-284 for several aggressive B-cell NHL, including MCL and HGBL, where LP-284 has shown potent anti-tumor activity in preclinical models. Lantern has been able to advance LP-284 from initial RADR A.I. insights regarding anti-cancer activity and potential mechanisms of action in hematological cancers, to selection of specific subtypes of lymphomas with superior response, to late-stage IND enabling studies and initiation of first-in-human clinical trials in a short span of approximately 2.5 years.

"Receiving Orphan Drug Designation is an important milestone for our latest drug candidate, LP-284, and further validates our data-driven approach to oncology drug discovery and development," stated Panna Sharma, President & CEO of Lantern Pharma. "At SOHO 2023, we reported positive preclinical data demonstrating LP-284’s potent anti-tumor activity as a monotherapy as well as in combination with FDA-approved lymphoma targeting antibody Rituximab in High-Grade B-cell Lymphoma (HGBL). These findings hold significant importance given the elevated rate of relapse and the unfavorable prognosis observed in the majority of HGBL patients," continued Sharma.

"This marks the second Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) granted by the FDA for LP-284. The initial ODD for LP-284 was granted in January 2023, and with this most recent ODD for LP-284 announced today, a total of five orphan designations have now been granted to Lantern, with the other three granted for our drug candidate LP-184. Acquiring these orphan designations is a key element of our business model as they provide a number of benefits including seven years of market exclusivity and eligibility for expedited drug development programs. Looking forward, these designations further position Lantern to advance our discussions with biopharma companies for partnering and collaborative development opportunities."

The FDA’s Office of Orphan Products Development grants orphan status to drugs intended for the safe and effective treatment, diagnosis or prevention of rare diseases or conditions affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the United States. ODD is designed to provide drug developers with various benefits to support the development of novel drugs, including market exclusivity for seven years upon FDA approval, eligibility for tax credits for qualified clinical trials, waiver of marketing registration application fees, reduced annual product fees, clinical protocol assistance and qualification for expedited development programs.

Reference:

Laude MC, Lebras L, Sesques P, et al. First-line treatment of double-hit and triple-hit lymphomas: Survival and tolerance data from a retrospective multicenter French study. Am J Hematol. 2021;96(3):302-311. doi:10.1002/ajh.26068