First Patient Dosed in Trial Evaluating Efti and the Anti-PD-L1 Therapy BAVENCIO in Metastatic Urothelial Cancer

Media Release

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, Jan. 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Immutep Limited (ASX: IMM; NASDAQ: IMMP) ("Immutep” or “the Company”), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel LAG-3 immunotherapies for cancer and autoimmune disease, today announces that the first patient has been enrolled and safely dosed in the INSIGHT-005 Phase I trial. The investigator-initiated study jointly funded with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, will evaluate eftilagimod alpha (“efti”) in combination with BAVENCIO (avelumab) in up to 30 patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma.

This chemotherapy-free immuno-oncology (IO) combination has already shown promising signals of efficacy and a favorable safety profile in advanced solid tumors, including several IO insensitive indications, in the INSIGHT-004 Phase I trial. Encouragingly, responses were achieved even in cancer patients with low and negative PD-L1 expression, who typically would not be expected to respond to anti-PD-(L)1 therapy.

INSIGHT-005 looks to build on these clinical results and is focused on an area of high unmet need: metastatic urothelial carcinoma patients that are not eligible for platinum-based chemotherapy or progressing during or after platinum-based chemotherapy. The trial will assess the safety and efficacy of efti and avelumab, an anti PD-L1 monoclonal antibody owned by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, that is widely recognized in international guidelines as the standard of care for the first-line maintenance treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma who are progression-free following platinum-based chemotherapy.

Immutep CSO, Frédéric Triebel, M.D., Ph.D., “Immunotherapy has made great strides in improving clinical outcomes for patients with bladder cancer, including avelumab that has set a new standard of care for many metastatic urothelial carcinoma patients, and we are pleased to commence patient enrollment in the INSIGHT-005 study that we hope will build upon this progress. The chemotherapy-free IO combination utilizing efti and avelumab has already generated encouraging efficacy and safety in difficult-to-treat advanced solid tumors, and this trial will help further elucidate how efti’s unique immune system activation may complement and enhance the ability of immune checkpoint inhibitors like avelumab to fight cancer.”