NewLink Genetics Corporation (NASDAQ:NLNK), a biopharmaceutical company focused on bringing novel immuno-oncology therapies to patients with cancer, today shared its strategy for becoming a leading immuno-oncology company at the company’s 2016 meeting for analysts and investors in New York City.
The program focused on the science and increasing validation of the IDO pathway as a target for oncology drug candidates and NewLink Genetics’ clinical programs. A link to a replay of the webcast and the slides can be accessed in the events tab of the investor and media relations section of the company’s website, http://investors.linkp.com/events.cfm.
“With data presentations from recent oncology medical meetings, there is a lot of excitement and promise in IDO as an important target. IDO pathway inhibitors are natural potential partners for combination treatments with other immuno-oncology checkpoint inhibitors and chemotherapies. We are excited to have two of the five IDO product candidates in clinical development now,” said Charles J. Link, Jr., M.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “One is indoximod, which is our proprietary IDO pathway inhibitor, and the other is GDC-0919, which is partnered with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group.”
Leaders in the field of immuno-oncology who presented at today’s meeting include: George C. Prendergast, PhD, President & CEO, Lankenau Institute for Medical Research (LIMR) and Editor in Chief, Cancer Research; David H. Munn, MD, Professor of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, Medical College of Georgia Augusta University; Montaser Shaheen MD, Associate Professor, University of New Mexico Cancer Center; and Ashkan Emadi, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, University of Maryland.
Key takeaways include:
- Validation of IDO as a Target. The IDO pathway can allow cancer to escape the immune system. Many cancers have developed the ability to employ IDO to evade immune attack. Clinical results are increasingly validating the IDO pathway as a target for cancer therapies. Just as scientists discovered the role of PD-1/PD-L1 expression and the usefulness of PD-1/PD-L1 blockade, there is an increasing body of research into the role of the IDO pathway and the potential for its inhibition.
- NewLink’s Two IDO Pathway Inhibitor Clinical Candidates. NewLink Genetics is engaged in clinical trials for two IDO pathway inhibitor product candidates, with two distinct mechanisms of action.
- GDC-0919, a direct IDO enzyme inhibitor, is being developed in partnership with Genentech. GDC-0919 is currently in Phase 1b trials, in combination with atezolizumab in solid tumors. In October, 2014, NewLink and Genentech entered in to a license and collaboration agreement with an upfront payment of $150 million, more than $1 billion in potential milestones and substantial royalties.
- Indoximod, an IDO pathway inhibitor, is proprietary to NewLink Genetics. Indoximod is in the clinic addressing multiple cancers including melanoma, pancreatic, glioblastoma multiforme, breast, acute myeloid leukemia and non-small cell lung.
3. Indoximod Clinical Development. Our clinical development strategy for indoximod includes formulation optimization intended to improve the candidate’s commercial and clinical potential. The Company reported that it will evaluate the data and report on several clinical trials underway in 2017.
4. Future R&D. NewLink also discussed its program targeting the PTEN pathway in regulatory T cells (Treg cells) as a central driver of tumor immunosuppression. NewLink Genetics is an early leader in the field of PTEN research just as it was in identifying IDO as a potential pathway for immune suppression.
