On July 21, 2026 Phanes Therapeutics, Inc. (Phanes), a clinical stage biotech company focused on innovative drug discovery and development in oncology, reported it has expanded their clinical trial collaboration with Merck (known as MSD outside of the US and Canada) to study spevatamig in combination with Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy, KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab), and chemotherapy in 1L BTC.
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"We are very pleased to expand the clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement to include BTC, a devastating cancer with high unmet medical needs," said Ming Wang, PhD, MBA, CEO of Phanes. "This reflects our vision of leveraging the combination of innate immunity enhancers (I2Es) with other therapies to target hard-to-treat cancers."
Spevatamig is an I2E, an emerging class of IO agents. I2Es are expected to activate macrophages and dendritic cells to recognize and destroy cancer cells, providing a potential complementary mechanism to leverage the immune system to attack tumors, especially the so-called "cold tumors" that are less likely to respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs).
KEYTRUDA is a registered trademark of Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA.
ABOUT SPEVATAMIG
Spevatamig is a first-in-class native IgG-like bispecific antibody (bsAb) targeting claudin 18.2 and CD47. It was granted orphan drug designation (ODD) for the treatment of pancreatic cancer by the FDA in 2022 and was granted Fast Track designation for the treatment of patients with metastatic claudin 18.2-positive pancreatic adenocarcinoma in 2024. In 2023, Phanes entered into a clinical collaboration agreement with Merck (known as MSD outside of the US and Canada) to study spevatamig in combination with pembrolizumab.
Phanes is conducting clinical trials with spevatamig in multiple cancer indications, including a Phase 2 study evaluating the efficacy of spevatamig in combination with chemotherapy in first-line PDAC patients. Spevatamig is a novel immunotherapy which has the potential to become the first I2E for a solid tumor indication and is combinable with various anti-cancer therapies.
(Press release, Phanes Therapeutics, JUL 21, 2026, View Source [SID1234669346])