Immutep (ASX:IMM) enters second collaboration with Pfizer and Merck KGaA for INSIGHT study

• Immutep (IMM) signs another collaboration agreement with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany and Pfizer for a phase one clinical study
• The companies will conduct and jointly fund the INSIGHT-005 trial in Germany to evaluate Immutep’s efti product with avelumab in patients with metastatic urothelial cancer
• This follows last year’s INSIGHT-004 trial, which evaluated efti in combination with the avelumab inhibitor in people with advanced solid cancers
• Immutep expects the first patient in the new trial to be enrolled and dosed in the first half of next year
• IMM shares were up 4.29 per cent to trade at 36.5 cents at 2:41 pm AEDT

Immutep (IMM) has signed an agreement with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany and Pfizer for a phase one clinical study in patients with urothelial cancer.

The INSIGHT-005 trial will take place in Germany and will evaluate the safety and efficacy of Immutep’s lead product candidate, eftilagimod alpha (efti), in combination with avelumab (BAVENCIO) in up to 30 patients with metastatic urothelial cancer.

Avelumab was co-developed and co-commercialised by Merck KGaA and Pfizer. It is a checkpoint inhibitor that works by targeting and blocking the PD-L1 protein on the surface of certain immune cells, activating the cells to find and kill cancer cells.

This collaboration marks Immutep’s second with Merck KGaA and Pfizer following the INSIGHT-004 study, which evaluated efti and avelumab in patients with advanced solid cancers.

Immutep CEO Marc Voigt said he was pleased to be deepening the company’s collaboration with Merck KGaA and Pfizer to help patients in need of treatment options.

“INSIGHT-005 builds on the encouraging clinical efficacy and safety previously reported from the combination of efti and avelumab in various solid cancers, including deep and durable responses in patients with low or no PD-L1 expression and in indications that typically do not respond to immune checkpoint therapy,” Mr Voigt said.

The parties will jointly fund the new study, which will be conducted by the Institute of Clinical Cancer Research, Krankenhaus Nordwest as part of the INSIGHT platform for studies investigating efti in different combination treatments and administration methods.

Immutep said it expected the first patient to be enrolled and dosed in the first half of next year after completing the necessary ethics and regulatory steps.

IMM shares were up 4.29 per cent to trade at 36.5 cents at 2:41 pm AEDT.