Friday, April 19, 2024
GV20 Therapeutics, a prominent biotechnology company at the forefront of integrating AI, genomics, and disease biology, has made a significant announcement. They've partnered with Merck (known as MSD outside the US and Canada) in a clinical collaboration and supply agreement. The collaboration aims to evaluate GV20's leading investigational program, GV20-0251, which targets the emerging immune checkpoint IGSF8, in combination with Merck's established anti-PD-1 therapy, KEYTRUDA®(pembrolizumab), for patients with advanced solid tumors in an ongoing Phase I study (NCT05669430).
Dr. Shirley Liu, Co-Founder and CEO of GV20 Therapeutics, expressed excitement about the collaboration, stating, "We are thrilled to advance the development of GV20-0251 and explore its potential in combination with KEYTRUDA. IGSF8 represents a novel immune checkpoint target that hampers the function of natural killer cells and dendritic cells. By alleviating this inhibition, the antagonistic antibody GV20-0251 holds promise as a cornerstone in cancer immunotherapy, offering substantial benefits to patients."
GV20 is actively enrolling participants in an open-label, multi-center, dose-escalation, and dose-expansion Phase I clinical trial assessing GV20-0251 in patients with advanced solid tumors ineligible for standard therapies (NCT05669430). The trial aims to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and preliminary anti-tumor activity of GV20-0251 as both a standalone agent and in combination with KEYTRUDA®(pembrolizumab). The company has amassed preclinical evidence indicating that blocking IGSF8 with antibodies demonstrates significant anti-tumor activity both independently and when combined with anti-PD-1 therapy across various tumor models. Notably, GV20 presented their findings in an oral presentation titled "IGSF8 is a novel innate immune checkpoint and cancer immunotherapy target" at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2024 during the immunology mini-symposium session.
KEYTRUDA® is a registered trademark of Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., based in Rahway, NJ, USA.
Source: prnewswire.com
