Antengene Corporation Limited (“Antengene”, SEHK: 6996.HK), a leading innovative global biopharmaceutical company dedicated to discovering, developing and commercializing first-in-class and/or best-in-class therapeutics in hematology and oncology, today announced that ATG-037 has received approval by the Bellberry Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) in Australia to initiate the Phase I STAMINA trial, a first-in-human study of ATG-037 in patients with locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors. The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the safety and tolerability of ATG-037 as monotherapy and in combination with an immune checkpoint inhibitor (CPI), to determine the appropriate dose for Phase II studies, and to assess preliminary signal of activity; the secondary objective is to characterize the pharmacology of ATG-037.
ATG-037 is an orally available, small molecule CD73 inhibitor. CD73 generates adenosine, which leads to immunosuppression in the tumor microenvironment. ATG-037 has demonstrated promising preclinical efficacy as a monotherapy and in combination with CPIs and chemotherapy agents. In preclinical studies, the compound has demonstrated to overcome the “hook effect” that is common in anti-CD73 antibodies. In addition, GLP toxicology studies indicate the compound will have a broad therapeutic window.
Kevin Lynch, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of Antengene commented, “Developing novel molecules that can make a clinical difference in cancer is of paramount importance to Antengene. Preclinical toxicology data suggests that ATG-037 will have a broad therapeutic window and further preclinical data suggests the potential for differentiated characteristics compared to other CD73 inhibitors.”
Dr. Lynch continued, “While we remain very interested to explore the drug as a monotherapy, combination therapy of ATG-037 with CPIs and chemotherapies could enable synergistic improvements in tumor response for patients with advanced and metastatic cancers. ATG-037 also has the potential to be used in combination with several agents in the Antengene pipeline including ATG-101, a proprietary PD-L1/4-1BB bispecific antibody, demonstrating the in-house combinatory potential of our pipeline programs. I’m very excited about the start of the clinical program and look forward to next steps with ATG-037.”
About Antengene
Antengene Corporation Limited (“Antengene”, SEHK: 6996.HK) is a leading commercial-stage R&D-driven global biopharmaceutical company focused on innovative first-in-class/best-in-class therapeutic medicines for oncology and other life-threatening diseases. Driven by its vision of “Treating Patients Beyond Borders”, Antengene aims to provide the most advanced anti-cancer drugs to patients in the Asia Pacific Region and around the world. Since initiating operations in 2017, Antengene has obtained 21 investigational new drug (IND) approvals in the US and in Asia, submitted 6 new drug applications (NDAs) in multiple Asia Pacific markets, with the NDA for selinexor/ATG-010 in China and South Korea approved through a priority review process. Leveraging partnerships as well as in-house drug discovery, Antengene has built a broad and expanding pipeline of 15 clinical and pre-clinical assets. The Company has global rights on 10 programs and Asia Pacific rights, including the Greater China region, on 5 programs.
Forward-Looking Statements
The forward-looking statements made in this article relate only to the events or information as of the date on which the statements are made in this article. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. You should read this article completely and with the understanding that our actual future results or performance may be materially different from what we expect. In this article, statements of, or references to, our intentions or those of any of our Directors or our Company are made as of the date of this article. Any of these intentions may alter in light of future development.
Source : https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/antengene-announces-hrec-approval-in-australia-for-the-phase-i-trial-of-the-small-molecule-cd73-inhibitor-atg-037-301476216.html
