Immuneering Granted FDA Fast Track Designation for IMM-1-104 in Advanced Melanoma

Immuneering Corporation recently announced the US FDA has granted Fast Track designation for its lead clinical-stage program, IMM-1-104, as a treatment for patients with unresectable or metastatic NRAS-mutant melanoma who have progressed on or are intolerant to PD-1/PD-L1 based immune checkpoint inhibitors. IMM-1-104 is currently being evaluated in a Phase 2a clinical trial in patients with advanced solid tumors, including melanoma.

“Immune checkpoint inhibitors play a vital role in the treatment of melanoma, yet patients who progress on or are intolerant to them have limited options,” said Ben Zeskind, PhD, Co-Founder and CEO of Immuneering. “Targeted therapies including MEK and RAF inhibitors have shown promise in melanoma but historically are severely limited by toxicity. As we presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology 2024 congress, IMM-1-104 is a new kind of MEK inhibitor that was observed to be uniquely well tolerated in our Phase 1 trial, relative to MEK inhibitors currently used to treat melanoma. We believe this creates opportunities for IMM-1-104 to benefit melanoma patients both alone and in combination with RAF inhibitors and/or immune checkpoint inhibitors. Against this backdrop, we are pleased with the FDA’s decision to grant Fast Track designation for IMM-1-104 in advanced melanoma, an area of significant unmet need. Melanoma patients are actively enrolling in one of the five arms of our Phase 2a clinical trial, and this designation follows our announcements earlier this year that IMM-1-104 has also been granted Fast Track designations for the treatment of both first and second-line pancreatic cancer.”

Fast Track designation is a program designed to facilitate the development and expedite the review of medicines with the potential to treat serious conditions and fulfill an unmet medical need. An investigational medicine that receives Fast Track designation may be eligible for more frequent interactions with the FDA to discuss the candidate’s development plan and, if relevant criteria are met, may be eligible for accelerated approval and priority review.

IMM-1-104 aims to achieve universal-RAS activity that selectively impacts cancer cells to a greater extent than healthy cells, through Deep Cyclic Inhibition of the MAPK pathway with once-daily dosing. IMM-1-104 is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1/2a study in patients with advanced solid tumors harboring RAS mutations (NCT05585320).

Immuneering is a clinical-stage oncology company seeking to develop and commercialize universal-RAS/RAF medicines for broad populations of cancer patients with an initial aim to develop a universal-RAS therapy. The Company aims to achieve universal activity through Deep Cyclic Inhibition of the MAPK pathway, impacting cancer cells while sparing healthy cells. Immuneering’s lead product candidate, IMM-1-104, is an oral, once-daily Deep Cyclic Inhibitor currently in a Phase 2a trial in patients with advanced solid tumors including those harboring RAS mutations. IMM-6-415 is an oral, twice-daily Deep Cyclic Inhibitor currently in a Phase 1/2a trial in patients with advanced solid tumors harboring RAS or RAF mutations. The company’s development pipeline also includes several early-stage programs. For more information, visit www.immuneering.com.