Tango Therapeutics disclosed a 14% reduction in headcount even as the company shared more evidence that its PRMT5 inhibitor enhances Revolution Medicines’ Rasonque.
The phase 1/2 trial is testing Tango’s vopimetostat with RevMed’s RAS(ON) inhibitor Rasonque. At the European Society for Medical Oncology meeting, Tango presented data on the combination in 29 people with previously treated MTAP-deleted and RAS-mutant metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).
Tango reported an 82% overall response rate (ORR) in the 22 PDAC patients who were efficacy-evaluable as of the Aug. 20 data cutoff. While seven of the 18 partial responses were unconfirmed as of Aug. 20, all the responses were confirmed after the data cutoff date. The study has yet to reach its median progression-free survival (PFS).
The nine-month PFS rate was 88%, while the disease control rate was 100%, Tango reported.
“We think that this data is supportive of the highly synergistic effect,” William Blair analysts said in a note to investors. “Efficacy rates and early durability trends remain higher than [Rasonque] on a cross-trial basis.”
The analysts compared Tango’s results to a phase 1/2 trial of Rasonque, in which RevMed linked the RAS(ON) inhibitor to an ORR of 29% in second-line PDAC patients and a 20% rate in third-line and later patients. Median PFS on Rasonque was 8.1 months and 4.3 months in second-line and third-line patients, respectively.
Tango's share price closed down 16.4% at $23.34 following the release of the data on Friday. The stock drop may reflect the decline in ORR between the May and August slices of data. As of the May cutoff, the ORR was 92% in 12 patients, with two unconfirmed responses.
William Blair analysts noted the change in ORR but focused on the cross-trial comparison to Rasonque monotherapy data and the emerging evidence of the durability of Tango’s combination. The nine-month PFS trends for the combination are “holding up,” the analysts argued. However, the William Blair team is looking to future updates to “fully appreciate the true duration of treatment for the combo.”
Tango has seen enough to commit to starting a registrational phase 3 trial of the combination in frontline patients with MTAP-deleted PDAC in the first half of next year. ORR and PFS are the dual primary endpoints of the planned study. Tango also plans to talk to regulators about pursuing approval of the combination in second-line PDAC.
The biotech is forging ahead in the belief it is seeing “a one-plus-one-equals-three-type synergy with this combination, exceeding our expectations across all metrics,” Tango CEO Malte Peters, M.D., said on a call with investors.
Tango lacks a supply agreement with RevMed for the phase 3 trial, Peters said. The biotechs are in talks and “there are a couple of topics that deserve a resolution between the two companies,” the CEO added.
Tango’s plan for bringing vopimetostat to market as soon as possible “includes the continuation of the work with RevMed, but also includes other options,” Peters said.
While the ESMO data seemed to be good news for Tango, not everyone at the company is set to benefit. In a related Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the biotech revealed that it would be deprioritizing its novel target discovery work in order to focus resources on its key candidates like vopimetostat.
“As part of the plan, the company intends to reduce its overall workforce by approximately 14%, with the majority of the headcount reductions from the company’s research group,” Tango explained.
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