Immutep (ASX:IMM) - CEO, Marc Voigt (left)
CEO, Marc Voigt (left)
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  • Immutep’s Chinese partner EOC Pharma is set to start a phase two clinical trial for patients with metastatic breast cancer
  • Encouraging results from the AIPAC phase IIb study of lead drug candidate, eftilagimod alpha (efti), have lent credence to the drug’s potential
  • Those positive results have been a motivating factor in EOC’s decision to test the combination therapy with chemo drug paclitaxel in further trials
  • EOC is the sole Chinese licensee for efti, and is required to contribute to the drug’s development in China
  • The EOC trial will enrol around 150 patients at 20 sites across China over 24 months
  • Immutep is up 55.36 per cent to 43.5 cents

Immutep’s Chinese partner EOC Pharma is set to start a phase two clinical trial for patients with metastatic breast cancer.

The trial

Encouraging results from Immutep’s ongoing AIPAC phase IIb study of lead drug candidate, eftilagimod alpha (efti), have lent credence to the drug’s potential in combination with chemotherapy drug, paclitaxel.

While the final data won’t be available until mid-next year, statistically significant increases in overall survival rates have been noted.

Those positive results have been a motivating factor in EOC’s decision to test the combination therapy in further trials.

The EOC trial will enrol around 150 patients at 20 sites across China over 24 months.

Patients will be administered paclitaxel along with either efti or a placebo in a randomised, double-blind study — meaning neither the clinicians nor the patients will know who’s received the placebo.

The EOC trial will begin enrolment early next year, and will examine patients’ progression free survival, overall survival and overall response rate.

Immutep CEO Marc Voigt has hopes the EOC study will yield similarly positive data to the AIPAC study.

“EOC Pharma shares our growing excitement about the potential for the combination of efti with paclitaxel chemotherapy in metastatic breast cancer,” Marc said.

“Our ongoing AIPAC study evaluating the same combination is already reporting very encouraging data, including a statistically significant survival benefit of 7.1 months in patients under 65 years of age and 9.4 months for patients with a low starting monocyte count,” he continued.

“EOC Pharma’s new trial in China brings this innovative new treatment much closer to market for metastatic breast cancer patients,” he added.

Outlook

The interim data from the AIPAC study is being presented today at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

The Chinese study will potentially add further weight to efti’s clinical potential.

EOC is the sole Chinese licensee for efti, and is required to contribute to the drug’s development in China.

Immutep stands to receive significant milestone payments from EOC as key development goals are achieved, and will also take royalties from any future sales of the drug in China.

With considerable early promise, it seems to be in both companies’ interests to get the drug to market as quickly as possible.

Aside from the obvious commercial imperatives, the paclitaxel-efti combination therapy shows potential to considerably improve clinical outcomes for a vulnerable patient cohort.

EOC Pharma CEO Xiaoming Zou says the therapy could help millions of women affected by breast cancer.

“Breast cancer is now the most common cancer in Chinese women, with more than 1.6 million people being diagnosed and 1.2 million people dying of the disease each year,” Xiaoming said.

“It is very important that we find new ways to enhance paclitaxel chemotherapy which continues to be a standard of care for HER2-negative/HR positive metastatic breast cancer patients,” he continued.

“Immutep’s recent encouraging interim AIPAC results give us hope we can boost. the body’s immune system to deliver better outcomes to patients,” he concluded.

Immutep is up 55.36 per cent to 43.5 cents at 10:51 am AEDT.

IMM by the numbers
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