(Alliance News) - 4d Pharma PLC on Monday said it has completed part A of a Phase I/II clinical trial of MRx0518 in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda.
MRx0518 is a single strain live biotherapeutic product being developed for the treatment of cancer, designed to stimulate the body's immune system, directing it to produce cytokines and immune cells which are known to attack tumors.
Keytruda - or pembrolizumab - is an anti-PD-1 therapy.
The pharmaceutical company said part A of the study evaluated the effects of MRx0518 combined with Keytruda in patients with advanced solid tumors who had previously responded positively to PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitors, but had subsequently developed secondary resistance and progressive disease.
4D Pharma said that the data collected showed that it is safe to proceed to part B of the study, which will assess clinical benefit and safety in up to an additional 30 patients.
"Commencing Part B of the study and expanding enrolment will enable us to build on the very encouraging preliminary signals of efficacy we have seen. These initial results indicate the potential for MRx0518 to be a game-changing immunotherapy for this particularly difficult-to-treat patient population for which all other therapeutic options have been exhausted," said Alex Stevenson, chief scientific officer of 4d Pharma.
Shares in 4D Pharma were trading 0.5% lower at 65.48 pence each on Monday morning in London.
By Ife Taiwo; ifetaiwo@alliancenews.com
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