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news.AbbVie and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) are collaborating on a clinical trial combining both companies’ checkpoint inhibitors to treat relapsed extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC).
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The phase 1/2 clinical trial will evaluate the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of BMS’s Opdivo and Opdivo + Yervoy in conjunction with AbbVie’s Rova-T, a delta-like protein 3 (DLL3)-targeted antibody-drug conjugate.
Both Opdivo regimens mitigate immune suppression while Rova-T works by removing cells responsible for tumor growth.
The clinical trial collaboration will identify if the targeted cell killing and antigen release caused by Rova-T may further improve the effect of immunotherapy.
AbbVie vice president, research and development Scott Dylla said: "By combining immune-checkpoint inhibitors that prime the body's immune system to fight cancer cells with Rova-T's approach to target cancer stem cells, we hope to build on our goal to develop differentiated treatments with therapeutic benefit that elevate the standard of care for small cell lung cancer patients."
Rova-T targets cancer stem cells and integrates a targeted antibody, offering a cytotoxic agent directly to cancer cells expressing a DLL3.
The biomarker-specific therapy is currently in investigational studies as a third-line treatment for SCLC.
AbbVie will start a first-line clinical study for Rova-T in SCLC and various other types of tumors in the near future.
Opdivo (nivolumab) is a PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor that binds to the checkpoint receptor PD-1 expressed on activated T-cells.
It blocks the binding of PD-L1 and PD-L2, avoiding the PD-1 pathway’s suppressive signaling on the immune system.
Opdivo, in combination with Yervoy, is indicated to treat patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma. This indication is approved under accelerated approval depending on progression-free survival.
Image: AbbVie US Headquarters. Photo: courtesy of AbbVie Inc.