Sept 8 (Reuters) – Inhibrx Biosciences said on Tuesday its experimental combination cancer drug helped reduce tumors in a mid-stage study in patients with a type of head and neck cancer.
Shares of the company were marginally up in premarket trading.
• The drug developer was testing the efficacy and safety of INBRX-106 in combination with Merck’s Keytruda in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma that has spread and cannot be removed with surgery.
• Data showed the combination drug shrank or disappeared tumors in 48.3% of patients, versus 26.5% for Keytruda alone.
• As of the data cutoff, patients on the combination drug remained progression-free for a median of 9.6 months, compared with 4.9 months for those receiving Keytruda alone.
• Side effects were generally manageable, with the most common treatment-related adverse events being rash, fatigue, and diarrhea, the company said.
• INBRX-106 is an immunotherapy designed to activate OX40, a protein on T cells that helps boost the body’s immune response.
• The benefit of the combination drug was strongest in HPV-positive patients, the company said, adding that it plans to include about 50 additional patients with HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer to support a potential accelerated approval.
• The company also plans to explore the potential of INBRX-106 in combination with therapeutic cancer vaccines.
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(Reporting by Sneha S K in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
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