While a host of cancer immunotherapies angle for attention at Chicago's American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, AbbVie ($ABBV) is touting early data on an antibody-drug conjugate with promise in a tough-to-treat form of brain cancer.
In a Phase I study on patients with glioblastoma multiforme, the most common and aggressive type of brain tumor, AbbVie's ABT-414 charted an objective response in four subjects, completely eradicating the cancer in one patient. The study is an open-label effort to confirm ABT-414's safety and nail down a recommended dose for Phase II, AbbVie said, and the compound's early success signals some hope of treating a disease with a 5-year survival rate of less than 3%.
ABT-414 is an EGFR-blocking compound wrapped up in a shell that allows it to stay stable in the bloodstream until it reaches targeted cancer cells. Once it penetrates its mark, the armed antibody releases its cytotoxic payload and kills tumor tissue.
AbbVie is now plotting midstage trials for the drug in glioblastoma multiforme and working through early clinical studies of ABT-414 in squamous cell tumors.
The company's largest pipeline focus remains immunology, building off the blockbuster TNF blocker Humira, but AbbVie has also assembled a promising stable of late-stage cancer drugs. Leading the way is elotuzumab, a Bristol-Myers Squibb ($BMY)-partnered multiple myeloma treatment that picked up the FDA's coveted breakthrough therapy designation this month. Then there's the PARP-inhibiting veliparib, in the midst of late-stage trials in lung and breast cancers, and the Phase III ABT-199, under development for blood cancers.
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