K-Bios make bid into pancreatic cancer treatment environment

Seeks breakthrough using combination therapy

NeoImmune Tech, CG Invites, Prestige starts clinical trial

Studies their candidates’ combined use with immune-oncology drugs, PRMT5, etc

The domestic pharmaceutical and bio-industry has made a bid into the development of new drugs for pancreatic cancer through the use of combination therapy.

 

Despite the development of various treatments to date, the five-year survival rate of pancreatic cancer has remained the lowest among the top 10 cancers, at 12.6%.

 

Pancreatic cancer is difficult to detect early due to its organ location and is known for its poor prognosis.

 

Domestic pharma and biotech companies have chosen 'combination therapy' as a strategy to improve the treatment effect of its pancreatic cancer treatments while reducing the side effects of existing platinum-based chemotherapy.

 

Currently, NeoImmuneTech, CG Invites, MedPacto, and Prestige Biopharma have started development of new drugs for pancreatic cancer.

 

Companies pursue new drug development as combination therapy…many enter clinical trials

According to industry sources on the 22nd, NeoImmuneTech recently disclosed the results of its Phase IIa clinical trial that evaluated its new drug candidate NT-I7 in combination with Keytruda.

 

NT-I7 is a treatment that amplifies T-cells and is currently being tested in patients with poor response to immuno-oncology drugs.

 

The study evaluated the efficacy and safety of NT-I7 plus Keytruda in 50 patients with previously treated metastatic colorectal cancer and 48 patients with pancreatic cancer.

 

Results showed that 3 of the 48 pancreatic cancer patients achieved a partial response (PR).

 

The median overall survival (OS) was 11.1 months.

 

In addition, NeoImmuneTech plans to investigate the feasibility of combining NT-I7 with an anti-cancer vaccine.

 

CG Invites has finalized the dose and begun dosing patients in its Phase II clinical trial of ivaltinostat, which it is developing for pancreatic cancer.

 

The company received investigational new drug (IND) approval from the U.S.

 

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to initiate its Phase Ib/II trial in 2022.

 

Ivaltinostat is an HDAC histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor class anticancer drug.

 

This new drug candidate binds to HDAC inhibits tumor cell activity and regulates the expression of oncogenes, inducing cancer cell death.

 

Ivaltinostat is known to inhibit HDACs 1, 2, 3, 6, and 10.

 

The Phase II trial evaluated the efficacy of the ivaltinostat plus capecitabine combination in 52 patients with advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer whose disease has not progressed after receiving folfirinox therapy.

 

Medpacto is identifying potential new medicines for pancreatic cancer by combining its vactosertib with FOLFOX therapy, and with a protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) inhibitor, ‘T1-44.’ PRMT5 is an enzyme that promotes cancer growth and shows increased expression in a variety of cancers, including pancreatic cancer Vactosertib selectively inhibits the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) signaling pathway, which impairs the therapeutic effect of immuno-oncology drugs.

 

Medpacto plans to maximize its treatment effect by combining its use with a PRMT5 protein inhibitor, which inhibits the enzyme known to promote cancer growth.

 

The recently published preclinical results showed that vactosertib plus T1-44 showed anticancer activity in a mouse model with pancreatic cancer.

 

Specifically, the combination of vactosertib and T1-44 increased mouse model survival by 60% compared to T1-44 alone.

 

The combination also showed changes in genes involved in apoptosis and the extracellular matrix processes.

 

Prestige Biopharma has initiated a clinical trial for its antibody-drug candidate PBP1510 in the US.

 

PBP1510 neutralizes the Pancreatic adenocarcinoma up-regulated factor (PAUF) protein, a target for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

 

Prestige Biopharma plans to confirm the safety and tolerability of PBP1510 in combination with gemcitabine in a Phase 1 clinical trial.

 

In addition, GC Cell is investigating the combination of its anticancer immune cell therapy Immunecell-LC with gemcitabine as a potential new drug for pancreatic cancer.

 

GC Cell is also looking to expand the indication for Immunecell-LC, which is currently approved for liver cancer.

 

The company received approval to initiate a Phase III clinical trial in 2021 and began dosing patients.