No giving up on ROR1 for Oncternal
Oncternal, a small biotech whose pursuit of ROR1 blockade had piqued investors’ interest, is not giving up on this approach. Despite deprioritising its anti-ROR1 MAb zilovertamab earlier this year, the group is continuing to study ONCT-808, a Car-T therapy with the same mechanism, which it yesterday said should deliver its first clinical data by the end of this year. ONCT-808’s phase 1/2 trial started dosing in May, and tests three dose levels of a Car-T product manufactured at Dana Farber in patients with aggressive lymphoma who had failed, or are ineligible to receive, CD19-directed Car-T therapy. Major interest in ROR1 began in 2020 when Merck & Co paid $2.8bn to buy Velosbio, and shortly afterwards Boehringer Ingelheim acquired NBE-Therapeutics for up to $1.5bn. However, Bristol Myers Squibb last year discontinued the anti-ROR1 Car-T project JCAR024, which it had inherited from Juno/Celgene, while Kancera and Triumvira seem to have abandoned the preclinical assets KAN0439834/KAN0441571 and TAC01-ROR1 respectively.
Clinical-stage ROR1 inhibitors
Project | Company | Modality | Status |
---|---|---|---|
Zilovertamab vedotin | Merck & Co (ex Velosbio) | ADC | Ph2/3 in B-cell lymphoma |
Zilovertamab (formerly cirmtuzumab) | Oncternal | Naked MAb | Ph3 Imbruvica combo study withdrawn; ph2 Venclexta combo in CLL ongoing |
BI 3702025/ NBE-002 | Boehringer Ingelheim (ex NBE-Therapeutics) | ADC | Ph1/2 in solid tumours |
ONCT-808 | Oncternal | Car-T therapy | Ph1/2 in B-cell malignancies, data by YE 2023 |
NVG-111 | Novalgen | T-cell engager | Ph1/2 in haematological cancers |
GNC-035 | SystImmune | Anti-ROR1/PD-L1/CD3/4-1BB tetraspecific MAb | Ph1/2 in haematological cancers |
RD14-01 | Zhejiang University | Car-T therapy | Ph1/2 in solid tumours |
LCB71/ CS5001 | Legochem/ Cstone | ADC | Ph1 in solid tumours |
LYL797 | Lyell Immunopharma | Car-T therapy | Ph1 in solid tumours (2nd-gen LYL119 is preclinical) |
PRGN-3007 | Precigen | Car-T therapy | Ph1 academic trial |
Source: OncologyPipeline.
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