On June 1, 2020 Compugen Ltd. (Nasdaq: CGEN), a clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company and a leader in predictive target discovery, reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared the investigational new drug (IND) application for its Phase 1/2 study evaluating the triple combination of COM701, Compugen’s first-in-class anti-PVRIG antibody, Opdivo (nivolumab), Bristol Myers Squibb’s PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor and BMS-986207, Bristol Myers Squibb’s investigational anti-TIGIT antibody, in patients with advanced solid tumors (Press release, Compugen, JUN 1, 2020, View Source [SID1234558790]).
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The triple combination study is designed to evaluate the simultaneous blockade of three immune checkpoint pathways, PVRIG, TIGIT and PD-1, and will accelerate the clinical evaluation of Compugen’s DNAM axis hypothesis and biomarker-driven approach in patients with advanced
solid tumors, including those that may be refractory or non-responsive to standard-of-care immune checkpoint inhibitors. The study is expected to commence in the second half of 2020.
"This study complements our clinical strategy designed to evaluate the blockade of PVRIG as a monotherapy and in combination with intersecting DNAM axis components to fully elucidate the role of this potentially foundational axis for cancer immunotherapy," said Anat Cohen-Dayag, Ph.D., President and CEO of Compugen. "The encouraging clinical data from the ongoing COM701 Phase 1 study evaluating our discovered target PVRIG, and the emerging clinical validation of the TIGIT pathway, leave us increasingly enthusiastic about our science-driven clinical approach evaluating these two complementary yet distinct pathways in combination with PD-1. Importantly, as the only company with wholly-owned clinical candidates against both PVRIG and TIGIT, we are uniquely positioned to address the role of the DNAM axis."
Henry Adewoye, M.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Compugen, added, "This study evaluating COM701 in combination with BMS-986207 and nivolumab fits our overall clinical development strategy of advancing novel therapies in cancers with high unmet medical need. We have previously reported partial responses with COM701 as monotherapy and in combination with nivolumab in patients with extremely challenging to treat cancer types, such as MSS platinum resistant primary peritoneal cancer and MSS-CRC. These preliminary clinical data support our preclinical work indicating that PVRIG and PD-1 are distinct pathways and that inhibition of the two may result in clinical benefit to patients. The triple combination will further test our science-driven hypothesis that PVRIG, TIGIT, and PD-1 are non-redundant inhibitory pathways and that their simultaneous blockade is expected to further enhance anti-tumor immune responses and broaden the patient population responsive to cancer immunotherapies. We look forward to collaborating with Bristol Myers Squibb on this important study."
Under this IND, the Company intends to initiate an open-label Phase 1/2 trial designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability and preliminary antitumor activity of COM701 in combination with Opdivo and BMS-986207 during dose escalation, as well as anti-tumor activity in selected tumor types in the expansion cohorts. Dose levels for Opdivo and BMS-986207 combinations have already been determined through prior testing by Bristol Myers Squibb, allowing for dose escalation of COM701 with fixed doses of Opdivo and BMS-986207.
About COM701
COM701 is a humanized antibody that binds with high affinity to PVRIG, a novel immune checkpoint discovered computationally by Compugen, and blocks the interaction with its ligand, PVRL2. TIGIT, an immune checkpoint discovered computationally by Compugen in 2009, and PVRIG constitute parallel immune checkpoint pathways that counteract DNAM, a costimulatory receptor on T cells and NK cells. Preclinical data suggest that the blockade of PVRIG induces a robust anti-tumor immune response and demonstrates synergistic activity when used in combination with inhibitors of TIGIT and/or PD-1. Currently, COM701 is being evaluated in a Phase 1 clinical study. Data from the ongoing study have shown that COM701 is well-tolerated and demonstrated preliminary signals of anti-tumor activity in a heavily pretreated patient population.