On January 26, 2022 NANOBIOTIX (Euronext: NANO – NASDAQ: NBTX – the ‘‘Company’’) (Paris:NANO) (NASDAQ:NBTX), a late-stage clinical biotechnology company pioneering physics-based approaches to expand treatment possibilities for patients with cancer, reported the publication of new preclinical immunotherapy data for novel, potentially solid tumor- and therapeutic combination-agnostic radioenhancer NBTXR3 in the Journal of Nanobiotechnology (Press release, Nanobiotix, JAN 26, 2022, View Source [SID1234607403]).
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The Nanobiotix preclinical program aims both to provide a deeper understanding of the NBTXR3 mechanism of action and to discover new pathways for the radioenhancer to potentially improve treatment outcomes for patients. Given preclinical and early clinical data suggesting a potential immune priming effect triggered by radiotherapy (RT)-activated NBTXR3 and the medical unmet need for patients with primary or secondary resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors, Nanobiotix and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center are exploring several therapeutic combinations involving checkpoint inhibitors, radiotherapy, and NBTXR3.
"We believe that we have only scratched the surface of opportunity for NBTXR3 as a potentially-ideal combination agent with immune checkpoint inhibitors," said Laurent Levy, co-founder and chairman of the executive board at Nanobiotix. "As the industry continues to advance development of these powerful immunotherapy agents, we feel there is an urgent need for novel combinations that can help improve efficacy for naïve patients and overcome resistance for non-responders. Our view is that the results presented in this new publication add to the growing body of data suggesting therapeutic potential for NBTXR3 in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors, and we look forward to further investigation in the lab and in the clinic."
Following previously reported positive preclinical data on the addition of NBTXR3 to a combination of radiotherapy and anti-PD-1 in anti-PD-1 sensitive and resistant lung cancer models, this evaluation investigated the addition of NBTXR3 to a combination of radiotherapy, anti-PD-1, and anti-CTLA-4 in an anti-PD-1 resistant model. Mice were inoculated with metastatic lung cancer cells in their right (primary tumor) and left (secondary tumor) legs. They were then treated with various combinations of anti-PD-1, anti-CTLA-4, NBTXR3, and radiotherapy in an effort to isolate the effect of adding NBTXR3, modifying the RT protocol, or both. Mice surviving after 178 days were rechallenged with tumor cells and monitored for tumor growth.
The evaluation showed that both modifications to RT protocol and the addition of NBTXR3 improved outcomes of combination therapy, and that the cohorts in which NBTXR3 was included in the regimen outperformed all others. Of note, the cohort treated with NBTXR3 and modified RT together showed that the therapy had significant antitumor effects against both primary and secondary tumors, improving the mouse survival rate from 0% to 50%. None of the re-challenged survivor mice developed tumors, and they had higher percentages of memory T cells versus control, suggesting the induction of long-term antitumor immune memory. The authors concluded that NBTXR3 in combination with radioimmunotherapy significantly improved anti-PD-1 resistant lung tumor control in mice by promoting antitumor immune response.
About NBTXR3
NBTXR3 is a novel, potentially first-in-class oncology product composed of functionalized hafnium oxide nanoparticles that is administered via one-time intratumoral injection and activated by radiotherapy. The product candidate’s physical mechanism of action (MoA) is designed to induce significant tumor cell death in the injected tumor when activated by radiotherapy, subsequently triggering adaptive immune response and long-term anti-cancer memory. Given the physical MoA, Nanobiotix believes that NBTXR3 could be scalable across any solid tumor that can be treated with radiotherapy and across any therapeutic combination, particularly immune checkpoint inhibitors.
NBTXR3 is being evaluated in locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) as the primary development pathway. The company-sponsored phase I dose escalation and dose expansion study has produced favorable safety data and early signs of efficacy. In February 2020, the United States Food and Drug Administration granted regulatory Fast Track designation for the investigation of NBTXR3 activated by radiation therapy, with or without cetuximab, for the treatment of patients with locally advanced HNSCC who are not eligible for platinum-based chemotherapy.
Nanobiotix has also prioritized an Immuno-Oncology development program—beginning with a Company sponsored phase I clinical study evaluating NBTXR3 activated by radiotherapy in combination with anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors for patients with locoregional recurrent or recurrent/metastatic HNSCC and lung or liver metastases from any primary cancer eligible for anti-PD-1 therapy either naïve or resistant to prior PD-1 (either primary or secondary as per SITC (Free SITC Whitepaper) criteria).
Given the Company’s focus areas, and balanced against the scalable potential of NBTXR3, Nanobiotix has engaged in strategic collaborations to expand development of the product candidate in parallel with its priority development pathways. Pursuant to this strategy, in 2019 Nanobiotix entered into a broad, comprehensive clinical research collaboration with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to sponsor several phase I and phase II studies to evaluate NBTXR3 across tumor types and therapeutic combinations. In 2021, the Company entered into an additional strategic collaboration agreement with LianBio to support its global phase III study in Asia along with four future registrational studies.