Oncology focused pharmaceutical company Corvus Pharmaceuticals has started enrolling patients in the second arm of its ongoing Phase 1/1b dose-escalation study to test combination of CPI-006, a humanized monoclonal antibody directed against CD73, with CPI-444, a selective and potent inhibitor of the adenosine A2A receptor.
CEO of Corvus, Richard A. Miller, who is also a co-founder and president of the company, is pleased with the enrolllment in the trial. He explaiend that the combination of drugs from Corvus’ two lead programs, is initiation of the first trial targeting two points in the adenosine pathway: blocking CD73 to reduce adenosine production with CPI-006, and inhibiting the binding of adenosine to its receptor with CPI-444. “We believe this approach represents a unique mechanism of action that may result in a more complete adenosine blockade and immune cell activation,” he said in the press release.
The company said that the Phase 1/1b study is currently enrolling patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and other cancers who have failed standard therapies. The first arm of the study is evaluating CPI-006 as a single agent and has dosed patients in several cohorts of escalating doses. A third arm is planned to evaluate CPI-006 in combination with pembrolizumab, an anti-PD-1 antibody.
Plans for clinical studies of covalent inhibitor of ITK, CPI-818
Dr. Miller pointed out the reported encouraging results from the ongoing Phase 1/1b and 1b/2 studies of CPI-444, including the recently described adenosine biomarker signature. He said that the company plans to begin with the clinical studies for its third pipeline program, a covalent inhibitor of ITK, CPI-818, in the first quarter of 2019, which demonstrates the depth of company’s pipeline and strong overall momentum for its precisely-targeted development programs.