K-Bios globally present immuno-oncology drugs

Verifies the competitivity of their immuno-oncology drugs at international academic conferences

SITC 2024 to start on the 6th…Hanmi and GC Cell will participate

Will announce bispecific antibody clinical trial results... will also present immuno-oncology drugs with new mechanisms of actions

The development achievements of the domestic pharmaceutical bio industry's immuno-oncology drugs will be presented at an overseas conference.

 

Hanmi Pharmaceutical, GC Cell, Abion Bio, ST Cube, and Y-Biologics, among others, have completed preparations to emerge into the international stage by disclosing positive clinical trial results.  In particular, some companies are conducting clinical trials for combination therapies that utilize their approved immuno-oncology and targeted therapy drugs.

 

They are aiming to increase the chances of commercialization by combining the drugs with verified therapies.

 

Bispecific antibodies emerge as a global R&D trend, Korean companies also make a bid into the industry According to industry sources on the 4th, The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer’s annual meeting (SITC 2024) will be held in Houston, U.S., from April 6 to 10.

 

STIC is the world's largest immuno-oncology society with more than 5,000 industry professionals from more than 70 countries around the world.

 

Hanmi Pharmaceutical will present the clinical trial results for its bispecific antibody, which has emerged as a global R&D trend.

 

The company is conducting a Phase I clinical trial on BH3120, a bispecific immuno-oncology drug candidate.

 

BH3120 simultaneously targets PD-L1 and 4-1BB.  Bispecific antibodies are drugs that can bind to two different antigens simultaneously, or to two different epitopes on the same antigen.  Such antibodies that simultaneously target various biomarkers have the advantage of allowing BBB penetration through targeted binding to receptors on the surface of the blood-brain barrier.

 

In particular, anticancer drugs need to penetrate the BBB to increase drug permeability.

 

Recently, a growing number of companies have developed multispecific antibodies by combining antibodies that bind to antigens that regulate the activity of immune cells and antibodies that bind to specific antigens on tumor cells.

 

In clinical trials, BH3120 showed a decoupling of immune activity between the tumor microenvironment and normal tissue, confirming its safety.

 

In addition to immuno-oncology drugs, Hanmi Pharmaceutical and Beijing Hanmi Pharm are also exploring the possibility of combining the drug with other anticancer drugs.

 

BH3120 incorporates Hanmi’s platform technology, “Pentambody.” This is a next-generation bispecific antibody platform technology that activates immune cells while attacking only target cancer cells.

 

Since 4-1BB is activated only in immune cells surrounding cancer cells expressing PD-L1, BH3120 minimizes the toxic side effects of 4-1BB and has long-term anti-cancer effects that prevent recurrence.

 

Y-Biologics will present clinical results from AR092, one of its T-cell bispecific antibody pipeline.

 

AR092 is a drug candidate generated from Y-Biologics’s proprietary next-generation T-cell bispecific antibody platform, “ALiCE.” Y-Biologics confirmed the potent anti-cancer effect and low toxicity of AR092 against solid tumors through a preclinical trial.

 

SITC 2023(Source= SITC).

Developing immuno-oncology drugs targeting novel mechanisms of actions Cell therapies and immuno-oncology drugs targeting new mechanisms of action will also be introduced at SITC 2024.  G-Cell will present preclinical results of its NK cell therapy candidate “GCC4001” in combination with Merck's EGFR antibody therapy Erbitux.  In preclinical studies, GCC4001+Erbitux demonstrated approximately 2 times the anti-tumor activity of Erbitux monotherapy.

 

GC Cell believes that the combination may represent a novel treatment alternative for recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer.  GC Cell will also present unique findings on its proprietary NK cell culture technique based on eHuT-78 CDV feeder cells.

 

ST Cube will present clinical results on its “nelmastobart,” which targets a novel biomarker, BTN1A1. BTN1A1 is a protein that regulates the immune response to cancer cells by inhibiting the activity of T-cells.  This biomarker is not expressed in normal cells, but is strongly expressed in cancer cells and is mutually exclusive with PD-L1.

 

By targeting BTN1A1, ST Cube is developing an immuno-oncology drug that may represent a new treatment option in refractory cancers.

 

Currently, ST Cubde is conducting Phase Ib/II clinical trials in the U.S.

 

and South Korea for nelmastobart in combination with paclitaxel in patients with relapsed or refractory extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC).

 

The company is also exploring the potential of nelmastobart in combination with capecitabine for the treatment of Stage III or higher metastatic colorectal cancer.

 

Abion Bio is presenting preclinical results on “ABN202,” an antibody-cytokine fusion protein (ACFP) that fuses an interferon-beta variant to a tumor-targeting antibody.

 

ACFP is a novel drug candidate that is expected to address the systemic toxicity of interferon-beta thereby offering a strong safety profile.  The company will present nonclinical data confirming immuno-oncology efficacy in immunosuppressive solid tumor mouse models.

 

Abion Bio is also exploring the potential for combination therapy with existing immuno-oncology agents.