Merck & Co. have agreed to collaborate with MacroGenics to evaluate the combination of margetuximab with Keytruda in patients with advanced gastric cancer.
The collaboration will consist of two trials – the first phase I trial to determine the safety and tolerability of the combination, and a second phase II trial to evaluate the anti-tumour effect of the drugs.
Dr Eric Rubin, VP and therapeutic area head of oncology early-stage development at Merck, said: “Today, there is a great opportunity and need to bring forward new scientific breakthroughs for the treatment of gastric cancer.
“Evaluating the potential of combination therapies through strategic collaborations in difficult-to-treat tumor types continues to be an important part of our immune-oncology clinical development program for Keytruda.”
Trial start-up activities are already underway with the first patients expected to be enrolled in the first quarter of 2016.
Margetuximab is an Fc-optimised monoclonal antibody that targets the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, or HER2 – an antigen critical for the growth of a variety of tumours including breast and gastroesophageal cancers.
Macrogenics also began a collaboration with Takeda in October last year to develop and commercialise as many as four drugs with the potential of making $400m.
Keytruda was recently granted accelerated approval by the FDA to treat patients with advance non-small cell lung cancer and tumours that express PD-L1.
Though Keytruda faces stiff competition from BMS’ Opdivo, analysts expect 2020 sales of Keytruda in the range of $5bn.