On July 27, 2020 Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ONCT), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel oncology therapies, reported that it will host a call with a key opinion leader (KOL) and members of the Oncternal management team to discuss the current treatment landscape of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and updates on the use of cirmtuzumab to treat patients with MCL on Wednesday, July 29, 2020 at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time (Press release, Oncternal Therapeutics, JUL 27, 2020, View Source [SID1234562405]).
Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:
Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing
Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!
The call will feature a scientific presentation on the current treatment landscape and unmet medical need in treating patients with MCL by Michael Wang, MD, professor of Lymphoma & Myeloma at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Wang, a consultant to Oncternal, will be available to answer questions at the conclusion of the call.
Oncternal’s management team will also discuss the recently announced updates to the clinical program of cirmtuzumab, a first-in-class humanized monoclonal antibody that binds with high affinity to a biologically important epitope on ROR1 (Receptor-tyrosine kinase-like Orphan Receptor 1). Cirmtuzumab is currently in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial in combination with ibrutinib for treating patients with relapsed/refractory MCL and patients with CLL. After recently announced positive data in MCL presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) 2020 Annual Meeting in May, the Company is amending the study to increase enrollment of MCL patients in the Phase 2 expansion cohort to at least 20 patients and to allow the enrollment of patients with a broader range of prior BTK inhibitor treatments.
To register for the call, click here.
About Cirmtuzumab
Cirmtuzumab is an investigational, potentially first-in-class monoclonal antibody targeting ROR1, or Receptor tyrosine kinase-like Orphan Receptor 1. Cirmtuzumab is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial in combination with ibrutinib for the treatment of MCL or CLL, in a collaboration with the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). In addition, an investigator-initiated Phase 1 clinical trial of cirmtuzumab in combination with paclitaxel for women with HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer is being conducted at the UC San Diego School of Medicine.
ROR1 is a potentially attractive target for cancer therapy because it is an onco-embryonic antigen – not usually expressed on adult cells, and its expression confers a survival and fitness advantage when reactivated and expressed by tumor cells. Researchers at the UC San Diego School of Medicine discovered that targeting a critical epitope on ROR1 was key to specifically targeting ROR1 expressing tumors. This led to the development of cirmtuzumab, that binds this critical epitope of ROR1, which is highly expressed on many different cancers but not on normal tissues. Preclinical data showed that when cirmtuzumab bound to ROR1, it blocked Wnt5a signaling, inhibited tumor cell proliferation, migration and survival, and induced differentiation of the tumor cells. The FDA has granted Orphan Drug Designations to cirmtuzumab for the treatment of MCL and CLL/small lymphocytic lymphoma. Cirmtuzumab is in clinical development and has not been approved by the FDA for any indication.