Oncologie Pairs PS Inhibitor Bavituximab with Merck’s Keytruda for Gastric Cancer
Waltham, Mass.-based Oncologie, Inc. will pair its investigational phosphatidylserine inhibitor Bavituximab with Merck’s venerable checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda as a potential therapy for patients with advanced gastric or gastroesophageal cancer.
Oncologie, Inc., a company focused on developing treatments the tumor microenvironment, announced the formation of a clinical collaboration with Merck this morning. Privately-held Oncologie will conduct a Phase II study of the combination study for patients who have failed at least one line of treatment for gastric or gastroesophageal cancer. The study will be conducted across multiple sites in the United States, Korea, U.K. and Taiwan. The Phase II trial will begin enrolling patients in the second half of 2019, Oncologie said in its announcement.
No financial terms of the collaboration were disclosed.
Laura Benjamin, founder and chief executive officer of Oncologie, said the collaboration with Merck reflects a “shared commitment” to improve the lives of cancer patients. Pointing to the difficulty of treating gastric cancer, Benjamin said Oncologie and Merck are committed to “understanding the clinical benefit” of the combination of Bavituximab and Keytruda.
Bavituximab is an investigational chimeric monoclonal antibody that targets the activity of phosphatidylserine (PS). PS-targeting antibodies have been shown to shift the functions of immune cells in tumors, resulting in multiple signs of immune activation and anti-tumor immune responses, Oncologie said. This mechanism may play an important role in allowing other cancer therapies to more effectively attack tumors by reversing the immunosuppression that limits the impact of those treatments. Bavituximab has demonstrated a manageable safety and tolerability profile in previous clinical trials, the company noted.
For Oncologie, the collaboration with Merck comes hard on the heels of an announced $80 million financing round in June. The company closed a Series B financing round that will support development of the company’s three assets. In addition to Bavituximab, Oncologie's other programs include a TLR9 activator, lefitolimod, and a VEGF-targeting antibody, varisacumab. In addition to those programs, the company is also developing a biomarker platform. Oncologie’s biomarker platform is designed to better inform patient selection across the portfolio by matching patients lacking a genetic "driver" mutation with the right medicine and allowing for selection of patients for treatment based on the microenvironmental defects of their tumor.
The Series B funding was led by Nan Fung Life Sciences and Pivotal BioVentures China. Those financiers were joined by new investors including Panacea Venture Healthcare and Korea Investment Partners, the company said in June.
Last year, Oncologie and Germany-based Mologen AG signed a licensing deal for the development of lefitolimod for the Chinese market. Last week, Mologen announced that lefitolimod failed to hit its primary endpoint against standard of care as a maintenance therapy in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer presenting with an objective tumor response following first-line induction therapy.