AVEO Oncology Announces U.S. FDA Approval of FOTIVDA® (tivozanib) for the Treatment of Adult Patients with Relapsed or Refractory Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma

On March 10, 2021 AVEO Oncology (Nasdaq: AVEO) reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved FOTIVDA (tivozanib) for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) who have received two or more prior systemic therapies (Press release, AVEO, MAR 10, 2021, View Source [SID1234576423]). FOTIVDA is an oral, next-generation vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI).

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"Today’s approval of FOTIVDA provides a new tool for treating patients with kidney cancer who have relapsed or become refractory to two or more prior systemic therapies," said Brian Rini, MD, Chief of Clinical Trials at Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center and principal investigator of the TIVO-3 trial. "With advances in RCC treatment, patients are living longer, increasing the need for proven, well tolerated treatment options in the relapsed or refractory setting. The TIVO-3 study is the first positive Phase 3 study in RCC patients who received two or more prior systemic therapies, and also the first Phase 3 RCC study to include a predefined population of patients who have received prior immunotherapy, the current standard of care in earlier-line treatment. With this approval, I believe FOTIVDA represents an attractive intervention, and expect it to play a meaningful role in the evolving RCC treatment landscape."

"We believe in FOTIVDA’s potential to provide a differentiated treatment option for the growing number of individuals in the U.S. with relapsed or refractory RCC, and today marks the culmination of many years of hard work and determination of many individuals to bring this therapy to patients," said Michael Bailey, president and chief executive officer of AVEO. "With today’s approval, AVEO begins its journey as a commercial-stage company, a noteworthy accomplishment in our industry. On behalf of the entire AVEO team, I would like to thank all the patients, their families, and caregivers whose tireless efforts made this day possible."

"Relapsed or refractory RCC is a devastating disease for which patient outcomes can be limited due to the tradeoff between tolerability and efficacy," said Dena Battle, president of KCCure. "The FDA approval of FOTIVDA represents an exciting, meaningful advancement by providing a new treatment option for this patient population."

AVEO plans to make FOTIVDA available to patients in the U.S. by March 31, 2021.

The approval of FOTIVDA is based on AVEO’s pivotal Phase 3 study, TIVO-3, comparing FOTIVDA to sorafenib in relapsed or refractory advanced RCC following two or more prior systemic therapies. The application is also supported by three additional trials in RCC and includes safety data from over 1,000 clinical trial subjects.

Patients (n=350) enrolled in the TIVO-3 study were randomized 1:1 to receive either FOTIVDA or sorafenib. The main efficacy outcome measure was progression-free survival (PFS), assessed by a blinded independent radiology review committee. Other efficacy endpoints were overall survival (OS) and objective response rate (ORR).

Median PFS was 5.6 months (95% CI: 4.8, 7.3) in the FOTIVDA arm (n=175) compared with 3.9 months (95% CI: 3.7, 5.6) for those treated with sorafenib (HR 0.73; 95% CI: 0.56, 0.95; p=0.016). Median OS was 16.4 (95% CI: 13.4, 21.9) and 19.2 months (95% CI: 14.9, 24.2), for the FOTIVDA and sorafenib arms, respectively (HR 0.97; 95% CI: 0.75, 1.24). The ORR was 18% (95% CI: 12%, 24%) for the FOTIVDA arm and 8% (95% CI: 4%, 13%) for the sorafenib arm.

The most common (≥20%) adverse reactions were fatigue, hypertension, diarrhea, decreased appetite, nausea, dysphonia, hypothyroidism, cough, and stomatitis. The most common grade 3 or 4 laboratory abnormalities (≥5%) were decreased sodium, increased lipase, and decreased phosphate.

The recommended tivozanib dose is 1.34 mg once daily with or without food for 21 days every 28 days on treatment followed by 7 days off treatment (28 day cycle) until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Conference Call and Webcast Information

In connection with this announcement, AVEO will host a conference call and slide webcast today, March 10, 2021, at 6:00 PM Eastern Time. The call can be accessed by dialing (844) 882-7841 (U.S. and Canada) or (574) 990-9828 (international). The passcode for the conference call is 4648498. To access the live webcast and accompanying slide presentation, or the subsequent archived recording, please visit the Investors section of the AVEO website at www.aveooncology.com. The webcast will be recorded and available for replay on AVEO’s website for two weeks.

About FOTIVDA (tivozanib)

FOTIVDA (tivozanib) is an oral, next-generation vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). It is a potent, selective inhibitor of VEGFRs 1, 2, and 3 with a long half-life designed to improve efficacy and tolerability. AVEO received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for FOTIVDA on March 10, 2021 for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) following two or more prior systemic therapies. FOTIVDA was approved in August 2017 in the European Union and other countries in the territory of its partner EUSA Pharma (UK) Limited for the treatment of adult patients with advanced RCC. FOTIVDA has been shown to significantly reduce regulatory T-cell production in preclinical models1. FOTIVDA was discovered by Kyowa Kirin.

INDICATIONS

FOTIVDA is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) following two or more prior systemic therapies.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS

Hypertension and Hypertensive Crisis: Control blood pressure prior to initiating FOTIVDA. Monitor for hypertension and treat as needed. For persistent hypertension despite use of anti-hypertensive medications, reduce the FOTIVDA dose.

Cardiac Failure: Monitor for signs or symptoms of cardiac failure throughout treatment with FOTIVDA.

Cardiac Ischemia and Arterial Thromboembolic Events: Closely monitor patients who are at increased risk for these events. Permanently discontinue FOTIVDA for severe arterial thromboembolic events, such as myocardial infarction and stroke.

Venous Thromboembolic Events: Closely monitor patients who are at increased risk for these events. Permanently discontinue FOTIVDA for severe venous thromboembolic events.

Hemorrhagic Events: Closely monitor patients who are at risk for or who have a history of bleeding.

Proteinuria: Monitor throughout treatment with FOTIVDA. For moderate to severe proteinuria, reduce the dose or temporarily interrupt treatment with FOTIVDA.

Thyroid Dysfunction: Monitor before initiation and throughout treatment with FOTIVDA.

Risk of Impaired Wound Healing: Withhold FOTIVDA for at least 24 days before elective surgery. Do not administer for at least 2 weeks following major surgery and adequate wound healing. The safety of resumption of FOTIVDA after resolution of wound healing complications has not been established.

Reversible Posterior Leukoencephalopathy Syndrome (RPLS): Discontinue FOTIVDA if signs or symptoms of RPLS occur.

Embryo-Fetal Toxicity: Can cause fetal harm. Advise patients of the potential risk to a fetus and to use effective contraception.

Allergic Reactions to Tartrazine: The 0.89 mg capsule of FOTIVDA contains FD&C Yellow No.5 (tartrazine) which may cause allergic-type reactions (including bronchial asthma) in certain susceptible patients.

ADVERSE REACTIONS

The most common (≥20%) adverse reactions were fatigue, hypertension, diarrhea, decreased appetite, nausea, dysphonia, hypothyroidism, cough, and stomatitis, and the most common Grade 3 or 4 laboratory abnormalities (≥5%) were sodium decreased, lipase increased, and phosphate decreased.

DRUG INTERACTIONS

Strong CYP3A4 Inducers: Avoid coadministration of FOTIVDA with strong CYP3A4 inducers.

USE IN SPECIFIC POPULATIONS

Lactation: Advise not to breastfeed.
Females and Males of Reproductive Potential: Can impair fertility.
Hepatic Impairment: Adjust dosage in patients with moderate hepatic impairment. Avoid use in patients with severe hepatic impairment.

To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc. at 1-833-FOTIVDA (1-833-368-4832) or FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch.

Please see FOTIVDA Full Prescribing Information which is available at www.AVEOoncology.com.

About Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma

According to the American Cancer Society’s 2021 statistics, renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common type of kidney cancer, which is among the ten most common cancers in both men and women. Approximately 73,750 new cases of kidney cancer will be diagnosed annually and about 14,830 people will die from this disease. In patients with late-stage disease, the five-year survival rate is 13%. Agents that target the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) pathway have shown significant antitumor activity in RCC.2 According to a 2019 publication, 50% of the approximately 10,000 patients who progress following two or more lines of therapy choose not to receive further treatment,3 which may be attributable to tolerability concerns and a lack of data to support evidence-based treatment decisions in this highly relapsed or refractory patient population.

ImmunityBio Begins Trading Today on Nasdaq as Large Cap Biotechnology Company

On March 10, 2021 ImmunityBio, Inc. (NASDAQ: IBRX) reported it has begun trading as a large cap company with approximately 398 million fully diluted shares outstanding following its merger with NantKwest (Press release, ImmunityBio, MAR 10, 2021, View Source [SID1234576422]). The combined company begins trading today on the Global Select Market of the Nasdaq exchange under the IBRX ticker.

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ImmunityBio is a leading late-clinical-stage immunotherapy company developing next-generation therapies that drive immunogenic mechanisms for defeating cancers and infectious diseases. The company’s immunotherapy platform activates both the innate (natural killer cell and macrophage) and adaptive (T cell) immune systems to create long-term "immunological memory."

The company’s broad-based platforms are based on the foundation of four separate modalities: Antibody cytokine fusion proteins, synthetic immunomodulators, second-generation human adenovirus (hAd5) and yeast vaccine technologies, and state-of-the-art, off-the-shelf natural killer cells, including autologous and allogenic cytokine-enhanced memory NK cells.

ImmunityBio has a broad immunotherapy clinical pipeline of over 40 clinical trials in Phase I, II and III development across 19 indications in solid and liquid cancers and infectious diseases. The clinical-stage pipeline and intellectual property portfolio spans 17 first-in-human antibody cytokine fusion proteins, chemo immuno-modulators, vaccine vectors, and cell therapies in 25 Phase II and III clinical trials. Anktiva (ImmunityBio’s lead cytokine infusion protein) is a novel interleukin-15 (IL-15) superagonist complex and has received Breakthrough Therapy and Fast Track Designations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for BCG-unresponsive CIS non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC).

Expanded Partnership with Medidata Supports Karyopharm’s Mission to Develop First-in-Class Therapeutics

On March 10, 2021 Medidata, a Dassault Systèmes company and the global leader in creating end-to-end solutions to support the entire clinical development process, reported its expanded partnership with Karyopharm Therapeutics (NASDAQ: KPTI) (Press release, Karyopharm, MAR 10, 2021, View Source [SID1234576421]). In 2014, Karyopharm selected one Medidata technology solution for a single study. Today, the company is leveraging 10 solutions in Medidata Rave Clinical Cloud in more than 15 clinical studies focused on hematologic malignancies and solid tumors.

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"Medidata is pleased to play a key role in supporting Karyopharm’s mission of bringing novel therapies to market, providing hope for patients," said Glen de Vries, co-founder and co-CEO, Medidata. "This agreement is a clear demonstration of our shared mission to advance analytics and technology to make a difference in health care."

With Medidata solutions, Karyopharm is able to:

Centralize operations, eliminate manual data entry, and operate with a clear view of all cross-application data in one place
Simplify and customize reporting within or across studies and leverage over 30 standard reports
Reduce complexity by standardizing and improving data quality with powerful artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms that automatically manage the complexity of clinical data
"Medidata continues to be an important strategic partner for Karyopharm by providing a cutting-edge technological infrastructure that helps us reach our clinical trial goals," said Kristan Gallitano, senior vice president, Development Operations at Karyopharm. "Medidata provides us the flexible, scalable technology and support we need to meet the evolving challenges of drug development."

Medidata is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dassault Systèmes, which with its 3DEXPERIENCE platform is positioned to lead the digital transformation of life sciences in the age of personalized medicine with the first end-to-end scientific and business platform, from research to commercialization.

KSQ Therapeutics to Present at the Oppenheimer 31st Annual Healthcare Conference

On March 10, 2021 KSQ Therapeutics, a biotechnology company using its proprietary CRISPRomics discovery platform to systematically screen the whole genome to identify optimal gene targets for oncology and autoimmune disease, reported that the company is scheduled to present at the Oppenheimer 31st Annual Healthcare Conference, to be held virtually, on Tuesday, March 16th, 2021, at 4:30 p.m. ET (Press release, KSQ Therapeutics, MAR 10, 2021, View Source [SID1234576420]).

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Transgene Expands Phase II Clinical Trial of Therapeutic Vaccine TG4001 in Combination With Avelumab Versus Avelumab Monotherapy in Patients With HPV16-positive Anogenital Cancers

On March 10, 2021 Transgene (Paris:TNG) (Euronext Paris: TNG), a biotech company that designs and develops virus-based immunotherapeutics against cancer, reported the expansion of a randomized, controlled study with TG4001 in combination with avelumab versus avelumab monotherapy in patients with HPV16-positive anogenital tumors (NCT: 03260023) (Press release, Transgene, MAR 10, 2021, View Source [SID1234576419]).

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Transgene has amended the initial Phase Ib/II trial protocol to enable a more rapid start of this important Phase II study based on encouraging Phase Ib/II trial data. This randomized Phase II trial will be supported by a continuing collaboration with the alliance of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Pfizer, which is supplying avelumab. Transgene retains all rights to TG4001.

PHASE II TRIAL AIMS TO SHOW THE SUPERIORITY OF TG4001 + AVELUMAB OVER AVELUMAB MONOTHERAPY

The initial Phase Ib/II trial conducted in Europe (France and Spain) has been amended to include a randomized comparison of the combination of TG4001 with avelumab versus avelumab monotherapy in anogenital cancers. The submission of the amended protocol has been initiated in Europe. In addition, Transgene received US FDA clearance of the protocol under TG4001 IND. Patient enrollment is expected to start in Q2 2021.

The trial will focus on patients with recurrent or metastatic HPV16-positive anogenital cancer without liver metastases, including cervical, vulvar, vaginal, penile, and anal cancer. This population was shown in the Phase Ib/II study to derive improved clinical benefit from the combination regimen [1, 2].

Patients will be randomized to either receive the combination regimen of the therapeutic vaccine TG4001 and avelumab or avelumab alone.

The primary endpoint of the trial is progression-free survival (PFS) according to RECIST 1.1. Secondary endpoints include objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), overall survival (OS) and a series of immunological parameters.

The Phase II trial will be supported by the extension of the collaboration with the alliance of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Pfizer, which is supplying avelumab for this trial. Transgene retains all rights to TG4001.

An interim analysis will be performed after the enrollment of nearly 50 patients. Transgene expects to communicate the interim analysis data around the end of 2022. This timeline is based on patient enrollment starting in Q2 2021 and there being no major impact on recruitment from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Commenting on this novel investigational immunotherapy regimen, Prof. Christophe Le Tourneau, MD, Head of the Department of Drug Development and Innovation (D3i) at the Curie Institute and Principal Investigator of the trial, added: "I am very pleased that we are now moving ahead with a new part of this Phase II study. The promising data that we generated in the Phase Ib/II part of this study, in patients without liver metastases, gives me confidence that the amended study can generate the additional data needed to confirm the treatment benefits of the combination of TG4001 and avelumab in this patient population with very limited therapeutic options."

RECURRENT AND METASTATIC HPV16-POSITIVE ANOGENITAL CANCERS NEED BETTER TREATMENT OPTIONS

The Phase II trial focuses on indications where standard therapeutic options and immune checkpoint inhibitors have limited efficacy. These indications represent areas of important medical need; they include cervical, vulvar, vaginal, penile, and anal cancer. The trial will enroll patients who have received a maximum of one line of chemotherapy for the treatment of their recurrent or metastatic disease or who are not eligible for chemotherapy.

Transgene estimates the number of people diagnosed annually with these cancers to be around 25,000 patients per year (US, Europe 27, UK) [3-9]. In spite of recent progress, patients with these severe and heterogeneous malignancies need better treatment options, particularly after the recurrence of the disease: median overall survival is less than 11 months [10-13] and median progression-free survival is around 2 months [10-13].

Dr. Maud Brandely, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer of Transgene, concludes about this study: "I am pleased we have been able to use a methodologically sound trial design to move ahead with this randomized Phase II study quickly. The results from the initial Phase Ib/II study demonstrated the potential of the combination of TG4001 with an immune checkpoint inhibitor in this advanced disease setting. We observed encouraging clinical outcomes with a response rate reaching 34.8% and median progression-free survival of 5.6 months in patients without liver metastases. The observed median progression-free survival shows that this combination can induce a sustained and durable benefit, which may be based on the induction of a specific immune response. This study is expected to provide us with the data required to discuss the registration path of TG4001."

About the trial
The multi-center, open label, randomized Phase II trial (NCT03260023) is designed to compare the efficacy of the combination of TG4001 and avelumab versus avelumab alone in patients with advanced, recurrent and/or metastatic HPV16-positive anogenital cancers who have disease progression after a maximum of one line of systemic treatment, or who are not eligible for first-line chemotherapy.

Prof. Christophe Le Tourneau, M.D., PhD, Head of the Department of Drug Development and Innovation (D3i) at the Curie Institute, is the Principal Investigator of the study. The trial is being conducted in collaboration with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE), which are providing avelumab for the trial. Avelumab is co-developed and co-commercialized by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany and Pfizer Inc. Transgene will continue to be the sponsor of the trial and conduct the trial.

Patients will receive TG4001 at the dose of 5×107 pfu, SC, weekly for 6 weeks, every 2 weeks up to six months, and every 12 weeks thereafter, in combination with avelumab or avelumab alone at 800 mg, IV every two weeks, until disease progression. The primary endpoint of the trial is progression-free survival (PFS) according to RECIST 1.1. Secondary endpoints include objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), overall survival (OS) and other immunological parameters. The trial could enroll up to 136 patients until the final analysis.

Patients with liver metastases will be followed in an ancillary arm and will be randomized to receive one of the treatment regimens; these patients will not be included in endpoint analyses.

About the data presented at SITC (Free SITC Whitepaper) 2020 and ESMO (Free ESMO Whitepaper) IO 2020 [1,2]
The results from the Phase Ib/II parts of the trial combining TG4001 with avelumab in HPV16-positive recurrent and/or metastatic malignancies were presented at SITC (Free SITC Whitepaper) 2020 [1] and ESMO (Free ESMO Whitepaper) IO 2020[2].

The combination of TG4001 and avelumab demonstrated anti-tumor activity (23.5% ORR) in patients with previously treated recurrent and/or metastatic HPV-related cancers (including patients with oropharyngeal cancers and anogenital cancers). Presence of liver metastases had a profound impact on the outcome in terms of ORR and PFS. In patients without liver metastases, an ORR of 34.8% and a median PFS of 5.6 months were achieved. The treatment induced HPV-specific T-cell responses and was associated with increased levels of immune cell infiltration in the tumors and expression of genes associated with activation of the immune system.

About TG4001
TG4001 is an investigational therapeutic vaccine based on a non-propagative, highly attenuated Vaccinia vector (MVA), which is engineered to express HPV16 antigens (E6 & E7) and an adjuvant (IL-2). TG4001 is designed to have a two-pronged antiviral approach: to alert the immune system specifically to cells presenting the HPV16 E6 and E7 antigens, that can be found in HPV16-related tumors, and to further stimulate the infection-clearing activity of the immune system through interleukin 2 (IL-2). TG4001 has been administered to more than 300 individuals, demonstrating good safety and promising efficacy results [1, 2, 14, 15]. Its mechanism of action and good safety profile make TG4001 an excellent candidate for combinations with other therapies in HPV-mediated solid tumors.

About HPV-Positive Cancers
HPV-positive cancers comprise a variety of malignancies, including anogenital cancers [3]. HPV-positive cancers include cervical [4], vaginal [5], vulvar [6], anal [7] and penile [8] cancers, i.e., approximately 25,000 cancers at metastatic stage eligible for a first-line treatment and in second line for a locoregional disease [9] (USA, EU 27, UK).

Current treatments mostly include chemoradiotherapy. However, better options are needed for advanced and metastatic HPV-positive cancers. It is thought that a therapeutic vaccine combined with other immunotherapeutic agents such as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) could provide a promising potential treatment option that would address this strong medical need [16,17]. With immune checkpoint inhibitors, median overall survival remains less than 11 months [10-13] and median progression-free survival is between 2 and 4 months [10-13].