Xencor “still committed” to oncology

Xencor has become the latest oncology company to switch focus to autoimmune diseases – and was rewarded by a 23% bump in its share price on Monday. But the group is “absolutely not” abandoning oncology entirely, execs said during a conference call; still, there appears to be no future for Xencor’s CD20-targeting bispecific antibody plamotamab in blood cancers, where it was in development before being ditched by Johnson & Johnson in June. The new focus for the project is rheumatoid arthritis. As well as outlining its new autoimmune push, Xencor highlighted two bispecific cancer projects: the ENPP3-targeting XmAb819, being developed in clear cell renal cell carcinoma, and XmAb808, which hits B7-H3. The group said it had seen Recist responses with the former at doses below those expected to be active, but provided no actual data. B7-H3 is a popular target; meanwhile, according to OncologyPipeline the only other group with a clinical-stage ENPP3 asset is J&J, whose T-cell engager JNJ-87890387 is in phase 1 in solid tumours, including renal. A showdown with Xencor's old partner beckons.

Xencor’s oncology pipeline

Source: OncologyPipeline.