Innate Pharma SA

09/02/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/02/2021 00:07

Monalizumab and ANKET™ Data will be Presented at ESMO 2021 Virtual Congress

AstraZeneca to present new data on monalizumab in combination with durvalumab in a late-breaking abstract on COAST Phase 2 trial

Innate Pharma SA (Euronext Paris: IPH; Nasdaq: IPHA) ('Innate' or the 'Company') today announced that two oral presentations will be highlighted at the ESMO 2021 Virtual Congress.

AstraZeneca will present a late-breaker abstract on the COAST Phase 2 trial, highlighting progression-free survival (PFS) results for novel durvalumab combinations with potential new medicines, including Innate's monalizumab, and oleclumab, an anti-CD73 monoclonal antibody, in unresectable, Stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Monalizumab, Innate's lead partnered asset, is a potentially first-in-class immune checkpoint inhibitor targeting NKG2A receptors expressed on tumor infiltrating cytotoxic CD8+ T cells and NK cells.

In addition, Innate will present pre-clinical data from its next-generation, proprietary, multi-specific NK cell engager platform known as ANKET™ (Antibody-based NK cell Engager Therapeutics).

'We're pleased with the continued progress of monalizumab, particularly in a combination trial with durvalumab in unresectable, Stage III non-small cell lung cancer,' said Mondher Mahjoubi, Chief Executive Officer of Innate Pharma.'Furthermore, the pre-clinical ANKET™ data at ESMO validates the importance of NK cell science and its role in the next wave of immunotherapy, while serving as the scientific engine to further advance our clinical pipeline. We look forward to seeing both oral presentations at ESMO.'

Presentation details

Monalizumab:

  • Title: COAST: an open-label, randomised, phase 2 platform study of durvalumab alone or in combination with novel agents in patients with locally advanced, unresectable, Stage III NSCLC
  • Date and time: September 17, 2021, at 2:20 p.m. CEST
  • Presentation number: LBA42

Alexandre Martinez-Marti (Barcelona, Spain) will deliver the presentation.

ANKET:

  • Title: Harnessing innate immunity in cancer therapies: the example of Natural Killer Cell Engagers
  • Date and time: September 18, 2021 at 1:30 p.m. CEST
  • Presentation number: 1O

Professor Eric Vivier, DVM, Chief Scientific Officer of Innate Pharma, will deliver the presentation.

About Monalizumab:

Monalizumab is a potentially first-in-class immune checkpoint inhibitor targeting NKG2A receptors expressed on tumor infiltrating cytotoxic CD8+ T cells and NK cells.

NKG2A is an inhibitory checkpoint receptor for HLA-E. By expressing HLA-E, cancer cells can protect themselves from killing by NKG2A+ immune cells. HLA-E is frequently overexpressed in the cancer cells of many solid tumors and hematological malignancies. Monalizumab may reestablish a broad anti-tumor response mediated by NK and T cells, and may enhance the cytotoxic potential of other therapeutic antibodies .

AstraZeneca obtained full oncology rights to monalizumab in October 2018 through a co-development and commercialization agreement initiated in 2015. The ongoing development for monalizumab is focused on investigating monalizumab in various combination strategies in different malignancies.

About COAST Trial:

COAST is a Phase 2, multi-arm, randomised trial investigating durvalumab alone or in combination with either monalizumab, an anti-NKG2A monoclonal antibody, or oleclumab, an anti-CD73 monoclonal antibody, in 189 patients with locally advanced, unresectable Stage III NSCLC who had not progressed after concurrent CRT.

COAST is being conducted by AstraZeneca in 82 centers across nine countries in North America, Europe and Asia. The primary endpoint of the trial is overall response rate (ORR) as a measure of anti-tumor activity. Secondary endpoints include safety, duration of response, overall survival and PFS.

About ANKET™:

ANKET™ (Antibody-based NK cell Engager Therapeutics) is Innate Pharma's proprietary platform for developing next-generation, multi-specific NK cell engagers to treat certain types of cancer. The Company's latest innovation, its tetra-specific ANKET molecule, is the first NK cell engager technology to engage activating receptors (NKp46 and CD16), a tumor antigen and a cytokine (IL-2v) via a single molecule. This leverages the advantages of harnessing NK cell effector functions against cancer cells and also provides proliferation and activation signals targeted to NK cells.

In preclinical studies, Innate's tri- and tetra-specific technology has demonstrated potent NK cell activation, cytotoxicity and efficient control of tumor growth in preclinical models. This versatile fit-for-purpose technology is creating an entirely new class of molecules to induce synthetic immunity against cancer.