Immunomedics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IMMU) has a new drug candidate called IMMU-140 that is based on its antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) program. The company took the opportunity at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting to show off results from preclinical trials of the candidate.
Not only did IMMU-140 demonstrate significant antitumor effect in studies carried out in mice, but the drug’s safety profile also impressed Immunomedics’ researchers.
IMMU-140 is the third candidate under Immunomedics’ ADC program. The two others are IMMU-132 and IMMU-114. Immunomedics used SN-38 platform technology to create the ADC candidates.
IMMU-132 produced positive results in a Phase 2 trial in patients afflicted by metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), and the FDA has assigned the candidate Breakthrough Therapy for TNBC. IMMU-140, on the other hand, is derived from IMMU-114, which has also produced encouraging results in a Phase 1 trial in patients with lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) at various stages of the disease development.
Preclinical study targets
Immunomedics said preclinical studies of IMMU-140 tested the efficacy and safety effects of the candidate in a variety of cancer cells. Other studies compared the effects of IMMU-140 to IMMU-114. The effect of IMMU-140 was tested in acute myelocytic leukemia (AML), acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), multiple myeloma (MM) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
The results showed that IMMU-140 significantly improved survival in mouse model featuring human AML. The drug was administered in two different doses of 500 µg and 250 µg, and both showed great improvement in survival compared to mice in the control arm of the experiment.
In ALL, the mouse that received IMMU-140 treatment achieved greater survival improvement compared with IMMU-114 group.
The outcomes of IMMU-140 trials suggest the candidate could hold hope for tumor patients.
“The positive results of IMMU-140 announced today, together with our continued progress on IMMU-132 and other treatments, strongly affirm Immunomedics’ robust product development pipeline […],” said Immunomedics CEO Cynthia L. Sullivan.
Immunomedics stock rose more than 10% in the last session to close at $3.61. The stock is up more than 27% since the last 12 months.
