Pharmaceutical Business review

Last patient enrolls in phase 2 trial with Transgene’s TG4010 + nivolumab + chemotherapy for first-line treatment of advanced NSCLC

Image: Last patient has been enrolled in phase 2 trial with Transgene’s TG4010 + nivolumab + chemotherapy for first-line treatment of advanced NSCLC. Photo: courtesy of Colin Behrens / Pixabay.

Transgene confirms that the study’s primary endpoint (objective response rate – ORR) on a minimum of 35 evaluable patients will be reported in Q4 2019.

The Phase 2 clinical trial is exploring the tolerability and efficacy of the combination regimen of Transgene’s TG4010, an investigational active immunotherapy against MUC1 tumor-associated antigen, with Bristol-Myers Squibb’s immune checkpoint inhibitor, Opdivo® (nivolumab), which acts by overcoming immune suppression, and standard platinum doublet chemotherapy.

This multi-center single-arm trial has enrolled patients both in the USA and Europe.

The trial has overall ORR as primary endpoint. The study will also assess the safety and tolerability of the regimen together with other efficacy and immunological parameters. More information on the trial can be found on clinicaltrials.gov (NCT03353675).

This trial is being conducted by Transgene under a clinical collaboration agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb, which is supplying nivolumab.

“We are looking forward to reporting the first efficacy data of our active immunotherapy TG4010, with nivolumab and chemotherapy as a first-line treatment of advanced lung cancer for patients whose tumors express low or undetectable levels of PD-L1”, said Maud Brandely, Chief Medical Officer of Transgene. “Today anti-PD-1 therapy is relatively less effective in this large subset of NSCLC patients. With this triple combination regimen, we aim to significantly improve treatment outcomes in this major oncology indication.”

The combination of TG4010 immunotherapy and chemotherapy has demonstrated significant efficacy in terms of increased response rate, progression-free survival and overall survival in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2b trial in first-line treatment of patients with advanced non-squamous NSCLC.

TG4010 is an active immunotherapy that has been designed to express the coding sequences of the MUC1 tumor-associated antigen and the cytokine, Interleukin-2 (IL2). It is based on a modified Vaccinia virus (MVA) and has been shown to induce an immune response against MUC1 expressing tumors, such as non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Its mechanism of action and excellent safety profile make TG4010 a very suitable candidate for combinations with other therapies, including immune checkpoint inhibitors and chemotherapy. The combination of TG4010 immunotherapy and chemotherapy has demonstrated significant efficacy in terms of progression-free survival and overall survival in patients with advanced stage NSCLC (Quoix et al. Lancet Oncol. 2015).

TG4010 is being investigated for the first-line treatment of NSCLC in combination with nivolumab and chemotherapy in patients whose tumors express low or undetectable levels of PD-L1.

Source: Compnay Press Release