OSE Immunotherapeutics & Oncology Physician Network GERCOR Announce Initiation of Phase 2 Clinical Trial

OSE Immunotherapeutics SA recently announced that the French National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety (ANSM) and the French Central Ethic Committee (CPP) approved the initiation of a new Phase 2 trial evaluating Tedopi, a combination of neoepitopes, in combination with Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Opdivo (nivolumab), an immune checkpoint inhibitor, versus Folfiri (a combination chemotherapy with folinic acid, fluorouracil and irinotecan) in advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer.

The clinical trial application was submitted to ANSM and CPP by GERCOR, which is sponsoring the clinical trial as part of PRODIGE intergroup. The trial, named TEDOPaM, will be supported by Bristol-Myers Squibb, which will provide Opdivo (nivolumab) for use in the study. OSE Immunotherapeutics will provide Tedopi, its wholly owned therapeutic-candidate, and a partial financial support.

Tedopi is currently in Phase 3 development in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after checkpoint inhibitor failure (anti PD-1 and anti PD-L1). Tedopi is a proprietary combination of 10 neo-epitopes selected and optimized from five tumor associated antigens and has been shown to generate a specific response of cytotoxic T cells versus cancer cells expressing at least one of these tumor associated antigens and an associated T-helper cell response.

 “Exploring the potential of Tedopi in additional oncology indications has been an important goal for us. We are particularly excited to be entering pancreatic cancer, an aggressive disease with a generally poor prognosis, demanding for novel therapeutic approaches and representing significant unmet medical need. We hope TEDOPaM will validate that combining Tedopi with a PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor has potential as a successful new therapeutic strategy for patients suffering from this devastating form of cancer,” commented Alexis Peyroles, Chief Executive Officer of OSE Immunotherapeutics.

“Pancreatic cancer is an indication where we feel that a neoepitope-based therapy in combination with a PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor has great potential,” said Professor Christophe Louvet, MD, President of GERCOR. “We hypothesize combining Tedopi and Opdivo will help stimulate cytotoxic T-cells and potentiate overall anti-tumor effects. We are beginning to activate our extensive network of expert clinical onocologists to rapidly initiate this exciting new Phase 2 trial for pancreatic cancer patients.”

The three arm TEDOPaM study will evaluate Tedopi as a maintenance therapy, alone or in combination with Opdivo compared to Folfiri alone, in HLA-A2 positive patients with stable disease after 4 months of standard chemotherapy with Folforinox, a combination chemotherapy with folinic acid, fluorouracil, irinotecan and oxaliplatin.

GERCOR is an association of physicians whose purpose is to improve the care of patients affected by cancer by developing clinical research in the scope of an independent, multidisciplinary and multi-focused group. GERCOR concentrates its efforts on only one mission: clinical research. Thanks to its network, GERCOR offers patients easy access to its up-to-date treatments. To achieve this goal, GERCOR stimulates the inclusion into its network of the greatest number of physicians involved in the treatments it is conducting, offers vital logistical assistance to research physicians whose job is to direct and monitor the application of the treatments to patients.

PRODIGE Intergroup (Partenariat de Recherche en Oncologie DIGEstive) is an oncology group partnership dedicated to implement national and international clinical trials in digestive oncology.

OSE Immunotherapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing and partnering therapies to control the immune system for immuno-oncology and autoimmmune diseases. The company has a diversified first-in-class clinical portfolio consisting of several scientific and technological platforms including neoepitopes and agonist or antagonist monoclonal antibodies, all ideally positioned to fight cancer and autoimmune diseases. Our most advanced asset, Tedopi, is a proprietary combination of 10 neo-epitopes aimed at stimulating T-lymphocytes and is currently in Phase 3 development in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after checkpoint inhibitor failure (anti PD-1 and anti PD-L1).

In April 2018, Boehringer Ingelheim and OSE signed a global license and collaboration agreement to develop checkpoint inhibitor OSE-172 (anti-SIRPa monoclonal antibody) in multiple cancer indications. In July 2016, Janssen Biotech, Inc. exercised a licensing option to continue clinical development of FR104 (an anti-CD28 mAb) in auto-immune diseases after positive Phase 1 results; following termination of licence agreement effective Dec. 31, 2018 due to strategic portfolio prioritization, OSE regains all worldwide rights on this asset.  In 2016, Servier Laboratories signed a two-step license option to develop OSE-127 (monoclonal antibody targeting the CD127 receptor, the alpha chain of the interleukin-7 receptor) to develop the product up to the completion of a Phase 2 clinical trial planned in autoimmune bowel disease and Sjogren’s syndrome.