ASCO-GI preview: notable late-breakers
Once the JP Morgan healthcare conference is over, oncology-focused investors will have another San Francisco-based meeting to look forward to. ASCO’s Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium takes place on 18-20 January, and all its abstract titles are now available. These reveal late-breakers on three trials that in the past few months have been toplined as positive for progression-free survival, namely Bristol Myers Squibb’s Checkmate-8HW, AstraZeneca’s Emerald-1 and Novartis’s Netter-2. A fourth late-breaker relates to Jiangsu HengRui’s AiRuiKa (camrelizumab) in neoadjuvant oesophageal squamous cell cancer, in a trial that doesn’t appear to be listed on major clinical study registries. Other presentations include Roche’s Skyscraper-08, featuring Tigit blockade in first-line oesophageal cancer, but this Asian study has a chemo comparator that is no longer standard of care; readout was delayed, and Wolfe Research’s Tim Anderson has suggested that the trial failed. Meanwhile, Leap Therapeutics and Agenus have highlighted ASCO-GI posters on DKN-01 and the botensilimab/balstilimab combination respectively.
Selected ASCO-GI presentations
| Trial | Company | Project/setting | Abstract | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emerald-1 | AstraZeneca | Imfinzi + TACE +/- Avastin in liver cancer | LBA432 | Toplined positive for PFS vs TACE, Nov 2023 |
| Netter-2 | Novartis | Lutathera + octreotide in 1st-line gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumours | LBA588 | Toplined positive for PFS vs octreotide, Sep 2023 |
| Checkmate-8HW | Bristol Myers Squibb | Opdivo + Yervoy in MSI-H/dMMR colorectal cancer | LBA768 | Toplined positive for PFS vs chemo, Dec 2023 |
| Skyscraper-08 | Roche | Tecentriq + tiragolumab in 1L oesophageal | 245 | Asia study, non-standard chemo comparator |
| Escort-Neo | Jiangsu HengRui | AiRuiKa + chemo in neoadj oesophageal squamous cell | LBA244 | Unclear to which trial this relates |
| NCT05288205 | Jacobio | Glecirasib in pancreatic & other solid tumours | 604 | KRAS G12C inhibitor with solid tumour data at ESMO 2023 |
| Defiance | Leap Therapeutics | DKN-01 + Avastin in 2nd-line colorectal cancer | 104 | Poster on anti-DKK1 MAb |
| NCT05571293 | Agenus | Botensilimab + balstilimab in neoadjuvant colorectal cancer | 117 | Poster on investigator-sponsored trial |
| NCT03155061 | Ono | ONO-4578 + Opdivo in colorectal cancer | 93 | Poster on EP4 antagonist |
| NCT06069778 | BioNTech | BNT321 in CA19-9-expressing tumours | 654 | Poster on anti-CA19-9 MAb |
| NCT05512377 | Boehringer Ingelheim | Brigimadlin in biliary tract cancer | 487 | Poster on MDM2-p53 antagonist |
| NCT04271488 | Eisai | Tasurgratinib in FGFR-2 fusion positive biliary tract cancer | 471 | Poster on FGFR1, 2 & 3 inhibitor |
| NCT04742959 | TransThera Biosciences | Tinengotinib in biliary tract cancer | 434 | FGFR1, 2 & 3 inhibitor |
Source: ASCO.
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