Incyte swings the axe on oral checkpoint inhibitors

Until today Incyte had been one of the key remaining players in oral checkpoint blockade, but the group has now thrown in the towel, with its two small-molecule PD-L1 inhibitors among a raft of projects disclosed as discontinued alongside its second-quarter results. Incyte is also getting out of Tim3, which Novartis abandoned earlier this year, and Lag3, one of the few checkpoints beyond PD-(L)1 that has seen any success. Meanwhile, Incyte noted an increased focus on CDK2, where the group will present data at ESMO, and is vying with Pfizer and Blueprint, and the increasingly crowded KRAS G12D field, among other mechanisms. Oral PD-L1 inhibition has long failed to live up to expectations; Curis had also been active here, with the PD-L1/PD-L2/VISTA antagonist CA-170, but that project was deprioritised in late 2022. Amgen also had an oral contender, CCX559, through its purchase of ChemoCentryx, but this no longer appears in its pipeline. According to OncologyPipeline the remaining oral PD-L1 scene is dominated by Chinese companies – including Chipscreen, which recently took its contender into human trials. Incyte already has an approved anti-PD-1 MAb, Zynyz.

What’s in and what’s out at Incyte

Source: OncologyPipeline & company release.