Bioncotech Therapeutics Announces Oncology Clinical Trial Collaboration With MSD
Bioncotech Therapeutics recently announced it has entered into a Phase 2 clinical trial collaboration with a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, known as MSD outside the US and Canada.
The collaboration will focus on the Phase 2 clinical evaluation of the combination of BO-112, Bioncotech’s lead program, and KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab), MSD’s anti-PD-1 therapy, in patients with select advanced stage solid tumors with liver metastases. The trial will evaluate if the combination of stimulation of the innate immune system by direct intra-tumoral administration of BO-112, combined with systemic administration of pembrolizumab, shows safety and efficacy in patients with tumors that are poorly or only moderately responsive to monotherapy with an anti-PD1 agent.
“This collaboration is an important next step in the clinical development of BO-112 and the potential of the innate immune system and intra-tumoral route of administration to provide improved outcomes for cancer patients,” said Marisol Quintero, CEO of Bioncotech. “We consider MSD, with its extensive expertise in immune-oncology, as the ideal partner for Bioncotech to complete this study.”
“Early clinical data suggest BO-112 induces immunological changes in the tumor microenvironment and beyond, which may render previously anti-PD1 refractory tumors susceptible to checkpoint inhibition,” added Dominique Tersago, CMO of Bioncotech. “Cancers that have metastasized to the liver present a significant therapeutic challenge. By targeting the metastatic liver lesions as the site for intra-tumoral injection we aim to reduce organ-related variability of the injection site, and also evaluate if BO-112 has potential to break through the generally immune tolerant hepatic environment and trigger or improve responsiveness to anti-PD1 therapy.”
Bioncotech’s lead candidate, BO-112, is a formulated non-coding double stranded RNA (dsRNA) that acts as an agonist to toll-like receptor 3 (TLR-3), and the cytosolic helicases melanoma differentiation associated gene 5 (MDA5) and retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I). It is a stimulator of the innate immune system, activates dendritic cells and induces interferons (IFNs), and also has been shown to trigger apoptosis and cause immunogenic cell death in tumor cells. BO-112 is being evaluated in combination with anti-PD1 treatment in a Phase I clinical trial. For information on clinical trials, please visit www.clinicaltrials.gov.
Bioncotech is a Spanish biopharmaceutical company focusing on the development of RNA-based therapies against validated and novel targets in cancer and immune cells.
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