Date: 2015-12-21
Type of information: Clinical research agreement
Compound: durvalumab (MEDI4736) in combination with TILs (tumor infiltrating lymphocytes)
Company: Lion Biotechnologies (USA - CA) MedImmune (USA - global biologics arm of AstraZeneca (UK)
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology
Type agreement: clinical research
Action mechanism: monoclonal antibody/immune checkpoint inhibitor/cell therapy. Durvalumab (MEDI4736) is a human monoclonal antibody directed against programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1). Signals from PD-L1 help tumours avoid detection by the immune system. MEDI4736 blocks these signals, countering the tumour’s immune-evading tactics. This antibody is directed against B7-H1, have been shown to block the interaction between B7-H1 and its receptors, PD-1 and CD80 (B7-1). This blockade may help to overcome the immunosuppressive effects of B7-H1 on anti-tumor T cells. Tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are special immune cells that migrate in the early stages of cancer to the tumor and launch an attack. However, this effect is usually short-lived because cancer adapts to evade immune detection and suppress immune response. Lion's TIL technology is designed to overcome this immunosuppressive effects of cancer, while leveraging and enhancing the power of TILs to treat, and potentially cure, all solid tumors. The technology is based on TILs isolated from the patient's tumor following resection. The cells are then expanded to billions in vitro, away from cancer's immune-suppressing effects. These highly activated, potent TILs are then infused back into the patient, who has been preconditioned to remove all suppressive influences.
Disease: metastatic melanoma, head and neck cancer
Details: * On December 21, 2015, Lion Biotechnologies, a biotechnology company that is developing novel cancer immunotherapies based on tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL), announced that it has entered into a collaboration to conduct clinical and preclinical research in immuno-oncology with MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca. Under the terms of the agreement, Lion will fund and conduct two Phase 2a clinical trials combining MedImmune’s investigational PD-L1 inhibitor durvalumab with TIL for the treatment of patients with metastatic melanoma, and head and neck cancer. MedImmune will supply durvalumab for the clinical trials. The purpose of the studies is to establish a dosing regimen for this combination therapy and assess its safety and efficacy. Preclinical research under the agreement will focus on identifying and evaluating therapeutically effective combinations of MedImmune’s checkpoint antibodies, using TIL as an in vitro model of the tumor microenvironment. The research will be funded by MedImmune and conducted by Lion.
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