AstraZeneca PLC Inks Fourth Immuno-Oncology Deal This Year, Strikes Pact with Peregrine to Study Combo Therapy

Astra Inks Fourth Immuno-Oncology Deal This Year, Strikes Pact with Peregrine to Study Combo Therapy
August 26, 2015
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

LONDON – AstraZeneca PLC continues to expand its oncology pipeline through a collaborative partnership with Peregrine Pharmaceuticals , its fourth such oncology deal this year.

The companies will study Peregrine’s investigational phosphatidylserine (PS)-signaling pathway inhibitor, bavituximab, in combination with AstraZeneca’s investigational anti-PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitor, durvalumab (MEDI4736). Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The two companies will collaborate on a non-exclusive basis, to evaluate the combination of bavituximab and durvalumab with chemotherapy as a potential treatment in various solid tumors, AstraZeneca announced on Monday. The two companies will conduct a Phase I trial, which is expected to establish a recommended dose regimen for the combination. A Phase Ib trial will assess the safety and efficacy of the investigational combination. The initial trial will be conducted by Peregrine.

“We believe that combination therapy in immuno-oncology has the potential to be a novel and highly effective approach to treating cancer. Our partnership with Peregrine provides the opportunity to explore an exciting, novel combination that could deliver important clinical benefit to patients across a range of cancers,” Robert Iannone, AstraZeneca’s head of immuno-oncology, said in a statement.

Bavituximab and durvalumab are investigational immunotherapies with different mechanisms that assist the body's immune system in fighting cancer. Bavituximab targets and controls the activity of phosphatidylserine, a highly immune-suppressive molecule expressed on the surface of cells in the tumor. The treatment increases activated T-cells in tumors and fights cancers through a reversal of the immunosuppressive environment.

Durvalumab is a monoclonal antibody directed against programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1). Signals from PD-L1 help tumors avoid detection by the immune system.

Preclinical data have demonstrated that by combining the enhanced T-cell mediated anti-tumor activity of bavituximab with checkpoint inhibitors like PD-L1 antibodies, the ability of tumor-specific T-cells to continue attacking the tumor is prolonged, the companies said.

AstraZeneca has been developing multiple immuno-oncology treatments and this year has moved deeper into the field. In January, AstraZeneca tapped Robert Iannone as the head of its immuno-oncology development programs.

On Aug. 6, AstraZeneca struck a licensing agreement with Heptares Therapeutics worth more than $510 million, for global rights to HTL-1071 for the treatment of a number of cancers. HTL-1071 is an adenosine A2A receptor antagonist.

Earlier this month the company struck several deals to bolster its immuno-oncology arm.

On Aug. 10 AstraZeneca announced a deal between MedImmune , AstraZeneca’s research and development arm, with Plymouth Meeting, Penn.-based Inovio Pharmaceuticals (INO). Under this new deal, MedImmune acquired exclusive rights to Inovio’s INO-3112 immunotherapy against cancers caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18.

In July, AstraZeneca struck a deal with Genzyme Corporation, a division of Sanofi , to sell cancer drug Caprelsa (vandetanib) for the treatment of symptomatic medullar thyroid carcinoma.

During a June meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), Pascal Soiriot, AstraZeneca’s chief executive officer, said combination therapies “hold the key to transforming clinical practice for the patients not benefiting from the currently-available immunotherapies.”

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