1stOncology™: Cancer Intelligence Service – Page 14503 – 1stOncology is recognized as a Top 10 Global Pharma Analytic Provider

ImmunoGen Announces Webcasts of Presentations at Upcoming Conferences

On November 6, 2018 ImmunoGen, Inc. (Nasdaq: IMGN), a leader in the expanding field of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for the treatment of cancer, reported that the following presentations by Company management at upcoming investor conferences will be webcast (Press release, ImmunoGen, NOV 6, 2018, View Source [SID1234530940]):

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

Jefferies London Healthcare Conference
November 14, 2018 at 9:40 am ET/2:40 pm GMT
Evercore ISI HealthConX
November 27, 2018 at 8:45 am ET
30th Annual Piper Jaffray Healthcare Conference
November 28, 2018 at 11:30 am ET
A webcast of each presentation will be accessible live through the "Investors" section of the Company’s website, www.immunogen.com; a replay will be available in the same location for approximately two weeks.

Five Prime Therapeutics Announces Third Quarter 2018 Financial Results

On November 6, 2018 Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: FPRX), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing innovative immuno-oncology protein therapeutics, reported financial results for the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2018 (Press release, Five Prime Therapeutics, NOV 6, 2018, View Source [SID1234530939]).

"With five programs in the clinic, we and our partners are advancing drug candidates to target multiple immune cell types in the tumor microenvironment, focusing on drugs that demonstrate single-agent activity or activity in tumor types that have been insensitive to checkpoint inhibitors," said Aron Knickerbocker, Chief Executive Officer of Five Prime Therapeutics. "Since our last earnings call, we dosed the first patient in our Phase 3 FIGHT pivotal trial of bemarituzumab in gastric and GEJ cancer. BMS also continues to advance the randomized Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating cabiralizumab and OPDIVO in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer."

Mr. Knickerbocker continued, "In addition, FPA150, our first-in-class B7-H4 antibody, is generating strong interest from investigators, and we are ahead of schedule in initiating our dose exploration basket cohort in patients whose tumors overexpress B7-H4. Additionally, we are screening patients in Australia for our Phase 1 clinical trial of FPT155, our first-in-class CD80 fusion protein. FPT155 induces strong single-agent activity in multiple preclinical models, and we look forward to evaluating this drug in various tumor settings."

Third Quarter 2018 Business Highlights and Recent Developments

Clinical Pipeline:

Bemarituzumab (FPA144): A first-in-class isoform-selective antibody with enhanced antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) in development as a targeted immuno-therapy for tumors that overexpress FGFR2b.

Five Prime initiated patient dosing in the randomized, controlled Phase 3 FIGHT (FGFR2b Inhibition in Gastric and Gastroesophageal Junction Cancer Treatment) global registrational trial (NCT03694522).
The FIGHT trial is designed to evaluate 15 mg/kg of bemarituzumab in combination with mFOLFOX6 against placebo in combination with mFOLFOX6 in approximately 550 patients with advanced gastric or GEJ cancer.
Five Prime plans to conduct the FIGHT trial at over 200 clinical trial sites in North America, Europe and Asia. In China, Five Prime is conducting the trial in collaboration with Zai Lab.
Five Prime is using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) tests to identify the estimated 10% of patients with FGFR2b-overexpressing gastric and GEJ cancer who would be eligible for the trial.
An abstract featuring data on bemarituzumab in combination with mFOLFOX6 from the Phase 1 safety lead-in (NCT03343301) has been accepted as a poster presentation at the ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) GI conference in January.
Cabiralizumab (FPA008): An antibody that inhibits CSF1R and has been shown to block the activation and survival of tumor-associated macrophages.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMS) is currently enrolling patients in a randomized, open-label, multi-arm Phase 2 clinical trial to determine the efficacy of cabiralizumab in combination with OPDIVO (nivolumab), with and without chemotherapy, as a second-line treatment for patients with pancreatic cancer (NCT03336216). BMS plans to enroll approximately 160 pancreatic cancer patients from the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, each of whom will be randomized to one of four study arms based on the patient’s prior therapy.
Stand Up To Cancer and BMS are supporting the study titled Nivolumab + Cabiralizumab + Gemcitabine Versus Gemcitabine in Patients With Stage IV Pancreatic Cancer Achieving Disease Control in Response to First-line Chemotherapy (GemCaN Trial) (NCT03697564). This is a randomized Phase 2 front-line maintenance trial to determine whether the combination of gemcitabine with cabiralizumab and OPDIVO can provide prolonged disease control in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer compared to gemcitabine alone.
Apexigen, Inc. and BMS continue to support a Phase 1/1b clinical trial to evaluate APX005M (anti-CD40) in combination with cabiralizumab and OPDIVO (NCT03502330). The expansion portion of the trial will study the triple drug combination in patients with melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer or renal cell carcinoma whose disease has progressed on a prior regimen containing a PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitor without intervening therapy.
FPA150 (anti-B7-H4): A first-in-class anti-B7-H4 antibody designed to target tumor cells through two mechanisms of action: (i) by blocking B7-H4 from sending an inhibitory signal to CD8 T cells and (ii) by enhancing killing of B7-H4 overexpressing tumors by ADCC. B7-H4 is frequently overexpressed in breast, ovarian and endometrial cancers.

In October 2018, Five Prime initiated an exploratory cohort to investigate FPA150 monotherapy in patients with tumors that overexpress B7-H4 at a dose predicted to be active based on preclinical data. Five Prime plans to enroll up to 10 patients whose tumors overexpress B7-H4 in this exploratory cohort to evaluate potential preliminary clinical activity of FPA150.
The exploratory cohort is part of an ongoing Phase 1a/1b clinical trial of FPA150 (NCT03514121) in multiple cancers. The Phase 1a dose escalation portion of the trial is evaluating FPA150 monotherapy in advanced solid tumors. Five Prime is advancing through dose escalation and is currently evaluating the seventh of eight expected dose levels.
After completing the Phase 1a dose escalation portion of the trial, Five Prime plans to select a dose and initiate the Phase 1b expansion portion of the trial to evaluate FPA150 monotherapy in disease-specific cohorts of patients whose tumors overexpress B7-H4, initially in HR+/HER2- and triple-negative breast cancers, ovarian cancer and endometrial cancer.
Five Prime anticipates presenting Phase 1 data at a medical conference in 2019.
FPT155 (CD80-Fc): A first-in-class CD80 fusion protein that uses the binding interactions of soluble CD80 to (i) directly engage CD28 to enhance its co-stimulatory T cell activity without inducing super agonism and (ii) block CTLA-4 from competing for endogenous CD80, allowing CD28 signaling to prevail in T cell activation in the tumor microenvironment.

Studies in preclinical models suggest FPT155 has the potential to be a potent T cell co-stimulator with strong monotherapy antitumor activity and may have a synergistic effect when combined with anti-PD1 therapy.
Five Prime is conducting a Phase 1a/1b clinical trial of FPT155 in Australia in patients with solid tumors. The objectives of this trial are to gain data on safety, pharmacokinetics and potential preliminary single-agent activity of FPT155. In October 2018, the company opened enrollment in the Phase 1a dose escalation portion of the trial.
BMS-986258 (anti-TIM-3): A fully-human monoclonal antibody targeting TIM-3 (T cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain-3), an immune checkpoint receptor that is known to limit the duration and magnitude of T cell responses.

BMS is conducting a Phase 1/2 clinical trial to evaluate BMS-986258 as a single agent and in combination with each of OPDIVO and Halozyme’s rHuPH20 (recombinant human hyaluronidase, PH20) enzyme in patients with advanced malignant tumors (NCT03446040).
BMS-986258 is the first clinical candidate from BMS’s immuno-oncology research collaboration with Five Prime.
BMS’s poster #P684 titled "Preclinical Studies of TIM-3 Blockade Supporting Clinical Development of BMS-986258, an Anti‒TIM-3 Monoclonal Antibody" will be presented at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) (Free SITC Whitepaper) Annual Meeting in November.
Corporate

Five Prime announced David V. Smith will join as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer on November 26.
Summary of Financial Results and Guidance:

Cash Position. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $321.6 million as of September 30, 2018, compared to $292.7 million as of December 31, 2017. The increase in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities was primarily attributable to $107.6 million in net proceeds from the January 2018 public offering of common stock and $34.5 million in milestone and upfront payments Five Prime received from collaboration partners, net of cash used by Five Prime in operations to advance its clinical stage programs as well as preclinical research and development.
Revenue. Collaboration and license revenue for the third quarter of 2018 decreased by $2.5 million, or 30%, to $5.8 million from $8.3 million for the third quarter of 2017. This decrease was primarily due to decreased revenue recognized under the cabiralizumab collaboration with BMS and the fibrosis and CNS collaboration with UCB, offset by the collaboration and license revenue from Five Prime’s China collaboration with Zai Lab executed in December 2017.
R&D Expenses. Research and development expenses for the third quarter of 2018 increased by $2.0 million, or 5%, to $44.7 million from $42.7 million in the third quarter of 2017. This increase was primarily related to milestone payments triggered by the dosing of the first patient in the Phase 3 FIGHT trial and increased clinical expenses to advance Five Prime’s development programs and employee compensation, offset by decreased spending on preclinical programs.
G&A Expenses. General and administrative expenses for the third quarter of 2018 increased by $0.1 million, or 1%, to $9.8 million from $9.7 million in the third quarter of 2017. This was primarily due to increased patent, legal and consulting expenses, offset by reduced personnel and other miscellaneous costs.
Net Loss. Net loss for the third quarter of 2018 was $47.2 million, or $1.37 per basic and diluted share, compared to a net loss of $43.3 million, or $1.54 per basic and diluted share, for the third quarter of 2017.
Shares Outstanding. Total shares outstanding were 34.5 million as of September 30, 2018.
Cash Guidance. Five Prime expects full-year 2018 net cash used in operating activities to be less than $135 million, which includes the previously mentioned milestone payments earned by Five Prime. Five Prime has revised its guidance and now estimates ending 2018 with approximately $265 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, an increase from its previous guidance of approximately $250 million.

Conference Call Information

Five Prime will host a conference call and live audio webcast today at 4:30 p.m. (ET) / 1:30 p.m. (PT) to discuss its financial results and provide a corporate update. To participate in the conference call, please dial (877) 878-2269 (domestic) or (253) 237-1188 (international) and refer to conference ID 6489275. To access the live webcast please visit the "Events & Presentations" page under the "Investors" tab on Five Prime’s website at www.fiveprime.com. An archived copy of the webcast will be available on Five Prime’s website beginning approximately two hours after the conference call. Five Prime will maintain an archived replay of the webcast on its website for at least 30 days after the conference call.

Cancer Targeted Technology Files Investigational New Drug Application for CTT1403, a Novel Radiotherapeutic Drug for Prostate Cancer

On November 6, 2018 Cancer Targeted Technology (CTT), a privately-held Seattle-based biotechnology company, reported that it filed an Investigational New Drug Application (IND) with the FDA to move forward a radiotherapeutic drug, CTT1403, into human clinical trials for prostate cancer (Press release, Cancer Targeted Technology, NOV 6, 2018, View Source [SID1234530938]). CTT1403 is a peptidomimetic drug that targets Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA). PSMA is over-expressed on prostate cancer and this expression increases as the cancer metastasizes and becomes hormone-resistant. Unlike other drugs, CTT’s molecules bind irreversibly to PSMA. This distinctive mode of binding enhances uptake and results in rapid and extensive internalization of these drugs by tumor cells, leading to increased uptake within the tumor. CTT1403 is labeled with the radionuclide 177-Lutetium and, unlike other PSMA-targeted drugs in clinical development, contains a unique albumin binding component. The albumin binding moiety on CTT1403 acts to increase the circulation of the drug in the body and further substantially increases the dose of drug that accumulates at the tumor sites. Once targeted to the tumor, the radionuclide on CTT1403 leads to tumor cell destruction. CTT1403 has shown excellent safety results to date in animal studies and CTT1403 treatment results in prolonged survival of animals with prostate cancer tumors

"We are very excited with the potential for CTT1403 to make a difference in men with advanced stage prostate cancer. This is a highly innovative molecule that combines excellent PSMA-targeting characteristics, already proven effective in prostate cancer, with the ability to enhance circulation time allowing for greater anti-tumor effects," stated Dr. Beatrice Langton-Webster, CTT’s CEO and Principal Investigator for the clinical program. The unique chemical structure for CTT1403 was designed by Dr. Cliff Berkman, Professor of Chemistry at Washington State University (WSU) and consultant to CTT as its Chief Scientific Officer. The work to discover and progress CTT1403 through preclinical development to IND was funded by a $2.3M Small Business Innovation Research contract from the NIH.

CTT recently completed clinical trials of CTT1057, the companion PET diagnostic to CTT1403, with excellent safety and imaging results. CTT1057 is undergoing further development and commercialization by CTT’s licensing partner AAA/Novartis. CTT1057 and CTT1403 can act as a theranostic pair to both diagnose and treat prostate cancer. Phase I clinical trials for CTT1403 are expected to start January, 2019.

Fortis Therapeutics Receives FDA Clearance of Two IND Applications for Novel Anti-CD46 Therapeutic for Treatment of Late-Stage Prostate Cancer and Multiple Myeloma

On November 6, 2018 Fortis Therapeutics, Inc., an immuno-oncology biotech developing a novel antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) against CD46, reported the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared two investigational new drug (IND) applications for the company’s lead candidate, FOR46, for the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and late-stage multiple myeloma (Press release, Fortis Therapeutics, NOV 6, 2018, View Source [SID1234530937]). The Phase 1 trial of FOR46 in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer is planned to launch by the end of the year. The second program, in late-stage multiple myeloma, is expected to move into clinical trials in early 2019.

FOR46 targets a novel immune modulatory receptor, CD46, which is highly expressed in multiple tumor types and is part of the tumor’s immune defense shield. While CD46 is expressed throughout the body, preclinical studies show that FOR46 activity is primarily restricted to prostate and other tumor tissue types, as opposed to normal tissue.

"CD46 is an attractive target for a number of cancers but has yet to be exploited due to its role in healthy tissues," said Jay Lichter, Ph.D., President and CEO of Fortis Therapeutics. "FOR46 cracks the code, in a sense, by binding a specific conformational epitope of CD46, that appears to be specific to tumor cells. This results in targeted tumor killing, while not impacting the natural role of CD46 in the complement system."

Discovery of FOR46

The FOR46 program originated at the University of California, San Francisco, in the laboratory of Bin Liu, Ph.D. It was identified through an antibody selection process that uses living tumor cells residing in their tissue microenvironment, thereby preserving the natural range of surface antigens present on the cells.

"It’s really a testament to the work of our scientists and the scientists at UCSF. By generating antibodies against tumor cells in situ, we developed a drug that readily translates to animal studies and, soon, human trials," said Marc Nasoff, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Fortis Therapeutics. "We’re confident in the science and in our therapeutic, which builds upon decades of innovation and refinement of antibody-drug conjugates."

To create FOR46, the fully human antibody was conjugated to a potent payload using a proven chemistry platform with well-characterized in vivo properties. Early in vitro studies of FOR46 have demonstrated its potential to kill tumor cells with no effect on normal cells. In rodents with human prostate cancer, it eliminated the tumor and led to long-term survival.

Fortis Therapeutics exclusively licensed rights to the antibody in 2016, and the company maintains a strong intellectual property position.

First Patient Enrolled in Investigator-Initiated Study of Tinostamustine in Glioblastoma

On November 6, 2018 Purdue Pharma L.P. reported that the first patient has been enrolled in a Phase 1 investigator-initiated clinical trial of tinostamustine, an investigational treatment, in patients with newly-diagnosed unmethylated O6-Methylguanine-DNA-methyltransferase (MGMT) glioblastoma multiforme (unmethylated nGBM),1 the most common and aggressive type of primary malignant brain tumor.2 Now open at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the open-label, non-randomized trial will investigate the safety profile, maximum tolerated dose (MTD), and efficacy of tinostamustine (Press release, Purdue Pharma, NOV 6, 2018, View Source [SID1234530936]).

Glioblastoma is an incurable cancer with a very poor prognosis.2 Median overall survival is only 15 months and survival rates have shown no notable improvement in the past 30 years.3,4 The current standard of care for the disease includes surgery and postoperative radiation therapy with concurrent and adjuvant chemotherapy using temozolomide.5-7 Prognosis is significantly worse for patients with the unmethylated MGMT form of glioblastoma because that tumor type is less likely to respond to currently available treaments.8 Under current standard of care, the two-year overall survival rate was 46 percent in patients with MGMT-methylated nGBM versus 14 percent in patients with unmethylated nGBM.8

"We are excited to see tinostamustine advance into a Phase 1 study in patients with unmethylated glioblastoma multiforme, an extremely aggressive and fatal form of brain tumor," said John Renger, PhD, vice president, Head of Research & Development and Regulatory Affairs, Purdue Pharma. "The limited brain penetration of some medications across the blood-brain barrier contributes to the poor prognosis of this disease, however, preclinical data suggest tinostamustine may have the potential to cross the blood-brain barrier to deliver therapeutic central nervous system concentrations."

The dual-acting therapy candidate tinostamustine, previously known as EDO-S101, is a novel and potentially first-in-class alkylating deacetylase inhibitor (AK-DACi) therapy. Clinical research is underway to evaluate its ability to improve access to and break the DNA strands within cancer cells, and counteract the cancer cells’ attempts to repair the DNA damage.9-12

The potential utility of tinostamustine in the treatment of glioblastoma is supported by various pre-clinical data, and the molecule has shown anti-tumor activity in multiple in-vitro models of glioblastoma. In a pharmacokinetic analysis of tinostamustine administered to murine models by IV bolus and continuous IV infusion (CIVI), tinostamustine crossed the blood-brain barrier with central nervous system (CNS) penetration of 16.5 percent and 13.8 percent for IV bolus and CIVI administrations, respectively.13 CNS penetration with adequate therapeutic CNS concentration is essential for the treatment of brain tumors.

Tinostamustine is an investigational treatment and it is not approved for use in glioblastoma patients. Tinostamustine is also in development for a range of rare or difficult-to-treat blood cancers and advanced solid tumors. The completion of the first-in-human Phase 1 dose escalation study of tinostamustine in patients with relapsed or refractory (difficult-to-treat) hematological malignancies for which there are no available therapies was announced recently, and a Phase 1/2 study in advanced solid tumors was initiated in 2017. Tinostamustine is being developed in the US by Mundipharma EDO on behalf of Purdue Pharma.

To find out more about the study, visit clinicaltrials.gov.

This release discusses an investigational new drug under development and is not intended to convey conclusions about efficacy or safety. There is no guarantee that such investigational drug will successfully complete clinical development or receive regulatory approval.