NewLink Genetics Corp. said indoximod failed to meet the main goal of a phase 2 study in pancreatic cancer that has spread to other parts of the body.
Results from the study showed indoximod, in combination with chemotherapy, did not meet the main goal of a 30% decrease in the risk of death compared with historical controls. Patients taking the drug tolerated it well and reported 10.9 months in median overall survival — a metric to see how well the treatment works — and a 46.1% overall response rate, or some reduction in the cancer.
Meanwhile, another phase 2 study evaluating indoximod in combination with a class of immune-system boosting medicines known as checkpoint inhibitors resulted in an overall response rate of 56% among patients with advanced melanoma — skin cancer that has spread to other parts of the body.
Complete response, or the disappearance of all signs of cancer, was 19%, while the median progression-free survival — or the time the patient lives without the disease worsening — was 12.4 months.
"Our data in advanced melanoma suggest that indoximod in combination with checkpoint blockade shows encouraging response rates," said Charles Link Jr., chairman and CEO of the Ames, Iowa-based immuno-oncology company.
The 2018 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting is expected to bring together more than 32,000 professionals from all over the world, with more than 2,500 study abstracts to be presented on site and an additional 3,350 abstracts to be published online.
