Pictured: Oncology tracker over the Chicago skyline/ Nicole Bean for BioSpace
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)’s annual meeting kicks off Friday in Chicago, with more than 5,000 abstracts highlighting investigational therapies for various malignancies. Analysts have expressed particular excitement for a new bispecific antibody, ADCs and a BCMA-targeted CAR-T cell therapy.
Stay tuned to BioSpace as we keep you updated on all of the biggest data and news from the conference.
Updated: May 31, 11:00 EST/10:00 CST
Novartis' Leukemia Drug Prevails Over Older Therapies in Phase III
Novartis’ kinase inhibitor Scemblix aced a Phase III trial in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), the pharma reported at ASCO on Friday.
In the ASC4FIRST trial, where Scemblix was pitted against current standard-of-care tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapies, Novartis’ drug elicited a major molecular response in 68% of patients compared to 49% in the TKI arm. A deep molecular response, which is often considered a remission in chronic myeloid leukemia, was seen in 39% of patients treated with Scemblix versus 21% in the comparison arms, one of which was Novartis’ Gleevec.
Scemblix was designed to elicit high potency and high specificity in order to minimize side effects and toxicities—an effect that was also born out in the trial, where 86% of patients on Scemblix remained on the treatment at the cutoff date compared to only 62% of patients on Gleevec and 75% on a second generation TKI.
Gilead Shares Details on Failed TrodelvyNSCLC Trial
In January, Gilead Sciences announced that its antibody-drug conjugate, Trodelvy, missed the primary endpoint of overall survival in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). On Friday at ASCO, the company revealed more details. In the EVOKE-01 trial, the ADC showed a 16% reduction in the risk of death compared with the chemotherapy docetaxel, while the median survival benefit was just 1.3 months for those treated with Trodelvy, Endpoints News reported. However, the OS margin was greater for those patients whose tumors did not respond to their last anti-PD(L)1-containing treatment, at 11.8 months for Trodelvy and 8.3 months for docetaxel.
Trodelvy’s safety pro also superior to docetaxel, Endpoints reported, with fewer grade 3 or worse adverse events and fewer discontinuations from toxicities compared with chemotherapy.
“These data, including the meaningful benefit observed in the sub-group of patients, are encouraging and warrants further investigation as these patients have a great unmet need,” Luis Paz-Ares, head of medical oncology service at Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre in Madrid, said in a press release, according to Endpoints.