BerGenBio: Promising data highlighting selective AXL inhibitor bemcentinib’s potential to improve efficacy of checkpoint inhibitors presented at AACR

On April 18, 2018 BerGenBio ASA (OSE: BGBIO), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel, selective AXL kinase inhibitors for multiple cancer indications, reported that promising preclinical data with its lead AXL inhibitor bemcentinib (formerly BGB324) has been presented in a poster at the 2018 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting on 14-18 April in Chicago, IL, USA (Press release, BerGenBio, APR 18, 2018, View Source [SID1234525486]).

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The data highlight bemcentinib’s potential to reverse tumour immune suppression and enhance immune checkpoint inhibitor efficacy.

The authors show that bemcentinib targets immune suppression mechanisms in the tumour microenvironment that improve immunotherapy in murine tumour models of non-small cell lung (NSCLC), triple negative breast (TNBC) and pancreatic cancer. Bemcentinib treatment reduces myeloid-derived suppressor cells and the altered immune landscape is associated with increased tumour infiltration of T cells (NK and CD8+) and enhanced therapy responses.

A validated AXL immunohistochemistry (IHC) method for use on patient samples to identify the presence of AXL on tumour cells and immune cells in the tumour microenvironment was presented. The authors report that across 92 banked tumour biopsies from patients with TNBC or NSCLC 70% were found to stain positive for AXL using this IHC method. The IHC method is now in use to analyse biopsies taken in connection with the company’s phase II combination trials of bemcentinib with KEYTRUDA in patients with advanced NSCLC or TNBC.

Professor James Lorens, BerGenBio Chief Scientific Officer, commented: "These results highlight a clear and important role for AXL in aggressive disease and resistance to immune therapy in particular. They provide continued confidence in the potential of combining bemcentinib with immune checkpoint inhibitors to improve cancer treatment, and support for our Phase II clinical trial programme of bemcentinib combined with the blockbuster immune checkpoint inhibitor KEYTRUDA, interim results from which are expected during 2018."

The poster is available online – www.bergenbio.com/investors/presentations/