Checkpoint Therapeutics Announces FDA Acceptance of BLA Resubmission of Cosibelimab for the Treatment of Advanced Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma

On July 25, 2024 Checkpoint Therapeutics, Inc. ("Checkpoint") (Nasdaq: CKPT), a clinical-stage immunotherapy and targeted oncology company, reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") has accepted for review Checkpoint’s resubmission of its Biologics License Application ("BLA") for cosibelimab, its anti-programmed death ligand-1 ("PD-L1") antibody, as a potential new treatment for adults with metastatic or locally advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma ("cSCC") who are not candidates for curative surgery or curative radiation (Press release, Checkpoint Therapeutics, JUL 25, 2024, View Source [SID1234645086]). The resubmission has been accepted as a complete response to the FDA’s December 2023 complete response letter ("CRL") and the FDA has set a Prescription Drug User Fee Act ("PDUFA") goal date of December 28, 2024.

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James F. Oliviero, President and Chief Executive Officer of Checkpoint, said, "We are pleased that the FDA has accepted our BLA resubmission as a complete response after we aligned on our BLA resubmission strategy. We look forward to working closely with the FDA to finalize the review and to the potential opportunity to deliver cosibelimab’s unique dual mechanism of action to patients suffering from cSCC."

In December 2023, the FDA issued a CRL for the cosibelimab BLA, which only cited findings that arose during a multi-sponsor inspection of Checkpoint’s third-party contract manufacturing organization ("CMO") as approvability issues to address in a BLA resubmission. The CRL did not state any concerns about the clinical data package, safety, or labeling for the approvability of cosibelimab.

About Cosibelimab
Cosibelimab is a potential differentiated, high affinity, fully-human monoclonal antibody of IgG1 subtype that directly binds to PD-L1 and blocks the PD-L1 interaction with the programmed death receptor-1 ("PD-1") and B7.1 receptors. Cosibelimab’s primary mechanism of action is based on the inhibition of the interaction between PD-L1 and its receptors PD-1 and B7.1, which removes the suppressive effects of PD-L1 on anti-tumor CD8+ T-cells to restore the cytotoxic T cell response. Cosibelimab is potentially differentiated from the currently marketed PD-1 and PD-L1 antibodies through sustained high tumor target occupancy of PD-L1 to reactivate an antitumor immune response and the additional potential benefit of a functional Fc domain capable of inducing antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity ("ADCC") for potential enhanced efficacy.