Preview of ASCO24: Top Cancer Meeting Abstracts

The American Society of Clinical Oncology's (ASCO) annual meeting begins today in Chicago, unveiling several anticipated research abstracts. Among these, a few stand out:

Targeted Oncology

Merus made headlines last Friday when its stock surged by one-third following the announcement of Phase II study results for its bispecific antibody petosemtamab. When combined with the immunotherapy Keytruda, the combination achieved a 67% response rate in head and neck cancer patients. This data will be presented at ASCO on June 3 at 8 a.m. in room E450b.

Bill Lundberg, President and CEO of Merus, remarked, "Petosemtamab in combination with pembrolizumab (Keytruda) has demonstrated clinically meaningful activity in first-line head and neck cancer, with a 67% response rate overall, observed across tumor PD-L1 expression levels and HPV status, and with encouraging safety."

Analysts at William Blair have echoed confidence in these findings, stating, "This unprecedented level of activity in metastatic head and neck cancer patients sets petosemtamab as the most effective combination partner for Keytruda in head and neck cancer patients.” Merus intends to commence a Phase III study later this year.

CAR-T Therapy

Following the recent expansion of CAR-T therapy Carvykti into second-line treatment for multiple myeloma, Legend Biotech and Johnson & Johnson will present data from the Phase II multicohort CARTITUDE-2 study. This study evaluates the safety and efficacy of Carvykti in various multiple myeloma treatment settings and patient populations (abstract #7535, #7505).

Carvykti is the first BCMA-targeted therapy approved for multiple myeloma patients as early as their first relapse. Approved by the FDA on April 5, it is intended for adult patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who have had at least one prior line of therapy, including a proteasome inhibitor and an immunomodulatory agent, and are refractory to lenalidomide. William Blair analyst Sami Corwin noted, “While we expect the updates to be incremental to Legend’s stock, they will further support the use of BCMA CAR-T cell therapies in the early-line setting.”

Emerging Oncology and Immunotherapies

On June 3, Pfizer and Genmab will present Phase II data on Tivdak (tisotumab vedotin) in treating head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Analysts from Leerink Partners found the data promising, suggesting that “antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) could eventually replace chemotherapy in [the] head and neck cancer treatment paradigm, particularly in the second-line space."

Analysts are also keen to observe the treatment's tolerability, especially its potential to avoid bleeding events, which had previously been a concern.

Paul Peter Tak, President and CEO of Candel Therapeutics, will present data on the immunotherapy candidate CAN-2409 (ASCO abstract #8634). Tak mentioned, “Immunotherapies have the potential to change the lives of patients by turning progressive cancer into a stable disease associated with improved overall survival.” Data shows that in non-small cell lung cancer patients with progressive disease despite immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy, two administrations of CAN-2409 plus valacyclovir resulted in a median overall survival of 20.6 months, compared to 11.6 months with standard docetaxel-based chemotherapy.

Another notable abstract is Nanobiotix’s Study 1100 (ASCO abstract #6035), which is assessing the radioenhancer NBTXR3. This study combines NBTXR3 with stereotactic body radiation therapy followed by PD-1 inhibitors nivolumab or pembrolizumab in patients with advanced solid tumors. Leerink Partners emphasized the significance of "reconstituting some sensitivity to anti-PD-1 therapy in patients who have progressed," as most efforts in this direction have not succeeded. Analysts are interested in how the company will advance by extracting signals from this "hypothesis-generating dataset."

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