Abbisko Therapeutics has entered into a strategic collaboration agreement with AstraZeneca to jointly advance the clinical development of a novel IO-TKI combination therapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), pairing Abbisko’s investigational oral PD-L1 inhibitor, lumipodlin, with AstraZeneca’s Tagrisso.
As a multicenter, open-label phase 1/2 clinical study, the combination will evaluate the safety and efficacy of lumipodlin in combination with Tagrisso for the treatment of patients with EGFR-mutated and PD-L1 positive locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC.
Lumipodlin is a novel, orally bioavailable, highly selective small molecule PD-L1 inhibitor independently developed and wholly owned by Abbisko. Lumipodlin selectively binds to the PD-L1 receptor and induces its internalization from the cell surface, effectively inhibiting the PD-1/PD-L1 interaction and alleviating PD-L1-mediated suppression of T-cell activation. In preclinical models, lumipodlin has demonstrated anti-tumor efficacy comparable to approved PD-L1 antibodies. The drug is currently being explored in an ongoing phase 1 clinical trial for advanced solid tumors in Australia and China.
Tagrisso is a third-generation, irreversible EGFR-TKI first approved by the FDA in 2015. It is now approved for patients whose tumors have a specific epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation (T790M) and whose disease has gotten worse after treatment with other EGFR-blocking therapy.